1 / 30

Abraham Man of Faith

Abraham Man of Faith. The New Testament is full of allusions to Abraham and the Old Testament his position of ancestor lends him much of his significance, as ancestor of Israel (Acts 13:26) Ancestor o f the Levitical priesthood ( Heb 7:5) Ancestor of the Messiah (Mat. 1:1)

dezso
Download Presentation

Abraham Man of Faith

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. AbrahamMan of Faith The New Testament is full of allusions to Abraham and the Old Testament • his position of ancestor lends him much of his significance, as ancestor of Israel (Acts 13:26) • Ancestor of the Levitical priesthood (Heb 7:5) • Ancestor of the Messiah (Mat. 1:1) • And by the peculiarly Christian doctrine of the unity of believers in Christ, and of all believers (Gal. 3:16f).

  2. AbrahamMan of Faith All that Abraham the ancestor received through Divine election, by the covenant made with him, is inherited by his seed and passes under the collective names of the promise (Rom. 4:13), the blessing (Gal. 3:14), mercy (Luke 1:54), the oath (Luke 1:73), the covenant (Acts 3:25). The way in which Abraham responded to this peculiar goodness of God makes him the type of the Christian believer.

  3. AbrahamMan of Faith Although so far in the past that he was used as a measure of antiquity (John 8:58 “before Abraham was, I AM”), Abraham is declared to have ‘seen’ Messiah’s day (John 8:56). It is his faith in the Divine promise, which, just because it was for him peculiarly unsupported by any evidence of the senses, becomes the type of the faith that leads to justification (Rom. 4:3), and therefore in this sense again he is the ‘father’ of Christians, as believers (Rom. 4:11).

  4. AbrahamMan of Faith For that promise to Abraham was, after all, a ‘preaching beforehand’ of the Christian gospel, in that it embraced ‘all the families of the earth’ (Ga. 3:8). Of this exalted honor, James reminds us, Abraham proved himself worthy, not by an inoperative faith, but by ‘works’ that evidenced his righteousness (James 2:21) and cf. John 8:39). The obedience that faith worked in him is what is especially praised by the author of Hebrews (11:8 – 17) (see ISBE, Vol. 1, pgs. 20-21)

  5. AbrahamMan of Faith The Lord Jesus mentioned Abraham’s faith Matthew 8:11 – “And I say to you (the disciples, after the faith of the Centurion was revealed and commended), that many shall come from east and west, and recline at table with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven; but the sons of the kingdom shall be cast out into the outer darkness; in that place there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

  6. AbrahamMan of Faith Luke 13:28 – (23) “Lord, are there just a few who are being saved?’ And Jesus said to them, “Strive to enter by the narrow door; for many I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. Once the head of the house gets up and shuts the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock on the door, saying, “Lord, open up to us!” then He will answer and say to you, “I do not know where you are from”. Then you will begin to say, “We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets”; and He will say, “I tell you, I do not know where you are from; Depart from Me, all you evildoers.” (28) There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth there when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but yourselves being cast out”

  7. Genesis 14 Q: What is Faith? Faith is the refusal of the small for the sake of the large. Faith will make no decision, take no step, merely from worldly motives Faith sees past the immediate good to a richer, grander good. Faith is deferred gratification - the ability to resist the immediate temptation for an immediate reward and wait for a later, larger, or better reward.

  8. Genesis 14 Worldly wisdom is not wisdom; it is folly, the blind grasping at what is within reach. It is folly, for any present good, to cut yourself off from your true life. A good conscience, peace of heart, faith, the vision of God, the hope of glory---it is a fool’s bargain to barter these for any mess of pottage (Esau/Jacob). Lot thought he was doing a wise thing in making the choice he did, but a share in the wealth of Sodom was a pitiful substitute for the place of Abraham’s company, and a share in Abraham’s thoughts and faith. Lot’s end was a ruined home, a desolate life, a broken heart

  9. Genesis 14 “The Church of God has suffered much from its attempts to apply its own high rules to the world instead of leaving the world to find out for itself [Christianity’s] superiority and adopt them” (Pulpit Commentary, /vol. 1, Gen. 14, p. 206)

  10. Genesis 15 Abram Promised a Son (Isaac)

  11. Genesis 15:1 15 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not fear, Abram,I am a shield to you;Your reward shall be very great.”

  12. Genesis 15:1 “After these things” “With the formula ‘after these things’ there is introduced a new revelation of the Lord to Abram, which differs from the previous ones in form and substance, and constitutes a new turning point in his life”

  13. Genesis 15:1 “the word of the LORD Jehovah” came to him “in a vision” Q: What is a vision, and how did Abram receive it? A: A vision is not a direct internal address [‘still small voice’], nor is it a manifestation of Jehovah that Abram could perceive with the five senses, nor was it a dream in the night It was a state of ecstasy by an inward spiritual intuition (K & D, p. 209)

  14. Genesis 15:1 Q: Did this occur at night? A: No, apparently not. Jacob does have a nocturnal vision in 46:2 – “And Jehovah spoke to Jacob in visions of the night” This vision occurred during the day.

  15. Genesis 15:1 ‘in a vision’ This vision apparently applies to all of chapter 15 There is no pause anywhere in it There is no sign that the vision ceases, or that the action is transferred to the sphere of the senses and to that of external reality. Therefore, we can assume this ‘vision’ was an internal spiritual reality (K & D)

  16. Genesis 15:1 The actual vision embraces only verses 1-4 or 1-8, but the entire chapter, especially from verse 12 onwards, assumes the form of a prophetic sleep produced by God. Q: But wouldn’t stepping outside and looking at the stars (5), and especially taking the sacrificial animals and dividing them (9-10) have belonged to the sphere of external reality on the ground that these are purely external acts? The entire revelation culminates in a prophetic sleep, which also bears the character of a vision (K & D, p. 210)

  17. Genesis 15:1 As it was in a deep sleep that Abram saw the passing of the divine appearance through the carefully arranged portions of the sacrifice, and no reference is made either to the burning of them (Judges 6:21), or to any other removal, the arrangement of the sacrificial animals must also have been a purely internal process.

  18. Genesis 15:1 To regard this as an outward act, we must break up the continuity of the narrative in a most arbitrary way, and not only transfer the commencement of the vision into the night, and suppose it to have lasted from twelve to eighteen hours, but we must interpolate the burning of the sacrifices…in a still more arbitrary manner, merely for the sake of supporting the erroneous assumption, that visionary procedures had no objective reality, or, at all events, less evidence of reality than outward acts, and things perceived by the senses.

  19. Genesis 15:1 A vision coming from God was not a mere fancy, or a subjective play of the thoughts, but a spiritual fact, which was not only in all respects as real as things discernible by the senses, but which surpassed in its lasting significance the acts and events that strike the eye. This event was designed to establish the purely spiritual relation of a living fellowship between God and Abram, of the deep inward meaning of which, nothing but a spiritual intuition and experience could give to Abram an effective and permanent hold. (K & D, p. 210)

  20. Genesis 15:1 15 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not fear, Abram,I am a shield to you;Your reward shall be very great.”

  21. Genesis 15:1 Q: Could this have been the very time when Abram ‘saw’ the Lord Jesus Christ as a preincarnate manifestation? Yes. John 8:56-58 “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day; he saw it, and was glad.” The Jews therefore said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say unto you, before Abraham [came into being] was born, I AM.” Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself, and went out of the temple”

  22. Genesis 15:1 Q: Is the phrase, “the word of the LORD came unto Abram” significant? Is there a relationship between the ‘word’ and Jesus Christ? Yes to both. One of the grandest concepts of human though is that of the Word. Man is distinguished form the animals primarily by his ability to formulate and communicate ideas. His capacity for intelligible, abstract, symbolic language, both written and spoken, is unique in the world of living creatures. (Morris, p. 322)

  23. Genesis 15:1 The purpose of language is that God might communicate His will to mankind, and that mankind might respond in praise to God. Since mankind was created for fellowship with God, and since fellowship requires communication, it is essential that the Creator somehow speak to us. Ps. 138:2 “Thou has magnified thy word above all thy name”

  24. Genesis 15:1 The concept of the Word of God includes both the written Word (Holy Scripture – the Bible), and the Living Word, Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity. Prior to taking on His humanity through His birth, He often appeared to mankind in what is called a ‘theophany’ – a preincarnate appearance of Jesus Christ. The first time the word ‘word’ appears in the Bible, it refers not to the word/s of mankind, but to the word of the LORD Jehovah.

  25. Genesis 15:1 Q: Why would Almighty God give a command to Abram saying, “Fear not”? 4 invading kings were defeated, but might return He is surrounding by Canaanite enemies He has shown his strength as a military leader with a strong household, as well as supporting friends But he and Sarai are childless, and Lot has left them Q: How could the promises of God be fulfilled without a child of their own?

  26. Genesis 15:1 Psalm 31:1-5 “In Thee, O LORD, I have taken refuge; let me never be ashamed; in Thy righteousness deliver me. Incline Thine ear to me, rescue me quickly; be Thou to me a rock of strength. A stronghold to save me. For Thou art my rock and my fortress; for Thy name’s sake Thou wilt lead me and guide me. Thou wilt pull me out of the net which they have secretly laid for me; for Thou art my strength. Into Thy hand I commit my spirit; Thou has ransomed me, O LORD, God of truth…”

  27. Genesis 15:1 Psalm 33:18 – 22 “Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear Him, on those who hope for His lovingkindness. To deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine. Our soul waits for the LORD; He is our help and our shield. For our heart rejoices in Him, because we trust in His holy name. Let Thy lovingkindness, O LORD, be upon us, according as we have hoped in Thee”

  28. Genesis 15:1 Psalm 37:1-5 “Fret not yourself because of evildoers, be not envious toward wrongdoers. For they will wither quickly like the grass, and fade like the green herb. Trust in the LORD, and do good; dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness. Delight yourself in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD, trust also in Him, and He will do it. And He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your judgment as the noonday…”

  29. Genesis 15:1 Isaiah 41:10… “Do not fear, for I am with you; do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand…”

  30. Genesis 15:1 “I AM… thy shield” I am the bread of life (John 6:35) I am the light of the world (John 8:12; 9:3) I am the door (John 10:9) I am the good shepherd (John 10:11) I am the resurrection and the life (John 11:25) I am the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6) I am the vine (John 15:5) I am that I am (Exodus 3:14) (John 4:26; 8:24, 28, 58; 13:13, 19; 18:5, 6, 8)

More Related