Indistinguishable

“And Abraham said unto his eldest servant of his house, that ruled over all that he had, Put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh: And I will make thee swear by the LORD, the God of heaven, and the God of the earth, that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell: But thou shalt go unto my country, and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son Isaac.”

This passage deals with the issue of separation. These days the entire concept is not politically correct. We are not allowed to discriminate against people who look different but we are allowed to discriminate against people who think differently from currently accepted thinking. However, Abraham didn’t want his son to marry a Canaanite woman so he sent his head servant to his homeland to find a wife from that region. Why would Abraham want to discriminate against the Canaanites? The clue is found in Gen 15: 16 where we read that the iniquity of the Amorites was not yet full. God was dealing with the Amorites in grace by giving them time to see Abraham and his holy life and be drawn to God. However, these people had a religion based on fertility and they were debased. So much so that they would sacrifice their own children to their gods so that they could get what they wanted. Abraham knew that this kind of debasement would contaminate his son and soon he would be indistinguishable from these debased people. Christians should take note of this and understand the importance of separation. If we want to bring glory to God then we need to live according to His high standards. If we are indistinguishable from the people around us then we have nothing to offer them and they won’t be drawn to Christ as Saviour. Without Christ as their Saviour they will spend eternity burning in hell.

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(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

The Lord had blessed Abraham in all things

“And Abraham was old, and well stricken in age: and the LORD had blessed Abraham in all things.”

As we went through Abraham’s life we saw that he spent many years waiting for Isaac’s birth. He didn’t ever own any part of the Promised Land except for his wife’s grave site. He had to rescue his nephew Lot from enemy armies and was unable to save Sodom from destruction through his prayers, although God did save Lot (this was probably his true motive for trying to save Sodom). However, when Abraham was old we find that the Lord had blessed him all things. The great lesson is not how you start or where you are at the middle of life, it is about where you are at the end (see 1 Tim 6: 6, 7  “But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we carry nothing out.”) The person who is content is the richest person in the world because he or she doesn’t want any more.

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(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

Made sure unto Abraham

“And Abraham hearkened unto Ephron; and Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver, which he had named in the audience of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, current money with the merchant. And the field of Ephron, which was in Machpelah, which was before Mamre, the field, and the cave which was therein, and all the trees that were in the field, that were in all the borders round about, were made sure Unto Abraham for a possession in the presence of the children of Heth, before all that went in at the gate of his city. And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre: the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan. And the field, and the cave that is therein, were made sure unto Abraham for a possession of a buryingplace by the sons of Heth.”

Abraham had a long term view of life rather than a short term view. He looked forward to a time when he would enjoy everlasting life and was willing to make some sacrifices in the present. There are many people today who say things like “no pain, no gain”. They are willing to make sacrifices now with the hope that these sacrifices will pay off in the future, even though there are no guarantees. However, with everlasting life there are guarantees, the Lord Jesus Christ paid the price with His own sinless blood. How willing are we to enjoy a secure future with guarantees? As far as Abraham was concerned, God not only blessed him with an everlasting blessing, he also saw some real enjoyment in his earthly life as well. Are we willing just to trust God and accept His security or do we want to fight hard for something that will not exist beyond the grave?

Would you like to support this ministry? Please click this link: http://jamesmcnaught.blogspot.com/ and then click “Follow” and encourage all your friends to follow as well. You could also visit http://jamesmcnaught.com and consider buying Gulf or Reclaiming the Bible from the “Enlightened”.

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

The only piece of the Land

“And the children of Heth answered Abraham, saying unto him, Hear us, my lord: thou art a mighty prince among us: in the choice of our sepulchres bury thy dead; none of us shall withhold from thee his sepulchre, but that thou mayest bury thy dead. And Abraham stood up, and bowed himself to the people of the land, even to the children of Heth. And he communed with them, saying, If it be your mind that I should bury my dead out of my sight; hear me, and intreat for me to Ephron the son of Zohar, That he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which he hath, which is in the end of his field; for as much money as it is worth he shall give it me for a possession of a buryingplace amongst you. And Ephron dwelt among the children of Heth: and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the audience of the children of Heth, even of all that went in at the gate of his city, saying, Nay, my lord, hear me: the field give I thee, and the cave that is therein, I give it thee; in the presence of the sons of my people give I it thee: bury thy dead. And Abraham bowed down himself before the people of the land. And he spake unto Ephron in the audience of the people of the land, saying, But if thou wilt give it, I pray thee, hear me: I will give thee money for the field; take it of me, and I will bury my dead there. And Ephron answered Abraham, saying unto him, My lord, hearken unto me: the land is worth four hundred shekels of silver; what is that betwixt me and thee? bury therefore thy dead”

This passage gives us some ancient colour. If the story had been written many years later, as some suggest, then the small details, like this would have been left out. It is likely that Ephron the Hittite actually charged Abraham a lot more than he should have for this piece of land. By offering to give it to Abraham for nothing he place Abraham under quite an obligation and, hence, was able to ask whatever price he liked. This was the only part of the Promised Land that Abraham ever owned, even though the Lord promised the Land to his descendants forever. However, we know from Heb 11: 9, 10 (By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.) that Abraham didn’t feel ripped off by this because he believed God and he has been rewarded for this.

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(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

A burying place

“And Abraham stood up from before his dead, and spake unto the sons of Heth, saying, I am a stranger and a sojourner with you: give me a possession of a buryingplace with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.”

The hardest experience most people will have is the death of a loved one. This is the time when you just wish that the world would stop for a while so that you can take time to grieve. However, the world just doesn’t stop. If you look out the window you will see people going about their lives as if nothing had ever happened. They don’t even know that you are suffering, let alone care that you are suffering. Abraham showed us how to get on with life. He stood up from before his dead and looked for a place to bury his dead. This doesn’t mean that Abraham didn’t love Sarah or that he didn’t miss her, he did but he also knew that the world wouldn’t stop and he would have to get up every morning for the rest of his life without her. Too often people are troubled by issues from their past and they allow these issues to cloud their appreciation of today. Abraham had the right idea, he buried his dead out of his sight. It is good for us to leave the past behind and keep moving forward looking to Lord for guidance and comfort (see Phil 3: 13).

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(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

Sarah died

“And Sarah was an hundred and seven and twenty years old: these were the years of the life of Sarah. And Sarah died in Kirjatharba; the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan: and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her.”

Sarah died. Even though Sarah was a great woman of faith she came to the end of her life and had to move on. In many ways, death is a sign of God’s grace for if a sinner couldn’t die they would have to live in desperate agony without any hope of respite. Sarah trust God for many year and eventually she gave birth to a son when it was impossible, except through God’s direct intervention. Death is one inescapable fact of life. However, we can approach death in two possible ways, like Sarah we can trust God and face death in faith (see Hebrews 11: 11-13) or we can refuse God’s grace and faith death in our own strength. Some people ridicule others who believe in God but there is an important question that we have to face. If we believe in God and are wrong then what is the worst we can expect? We may get some ridicule from some people but we don’t have to spend a great deal of time with those people anyway. We can learn contentment (see Phil 4: 11), by God’s grace, and the contented person is the richest person in the world. So have we lost anything in the long term. However if the person who doesn’t believe in the Lord Jesus Christ is wrong then they have to burn in the eternal torments of hell, knowing all the time that they had a chance to escape from the wrath to come but didn’t take it (Matt 3: 7). There is a saying today, “No Regrets!” However, there will be no greater regret than that one.

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(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

Abraham’s family

“And it came to pass after these things, that it was told Abraham, saying, Behold, Milcah, she hath also born children unto thy brother Nahor; Huz his firstborn, and Buz his brother, and Kemuel the father of Aram, And Chesed, and Hazo, and Pildash, and Jidlaph, and Bethuel. And Bethuel begat Rebekah: these eight Milcah did bear to Nahor, Abraham’s brother. And his concubine, whose name was Reumah, she bare also Tebah, and Gaham, and Thahash, and Maachah.”

In Gen 15 the we rad about the time that the Lord first contacted Abraham. At that time he was living in an essentially pagan world. However it is possible that Abraham met Shem and was introduced to the Lord. Whether this is true or not, Abraham heard the Lord’s call and set out to obey the Lord even though he didn’t know where he was going. We have just seen how Abraham trusted the Lord enough to offer his on on the altar. Although, the angel of the Lord prevented him from actually shedding his son’ blood. When the promise first came the Lord promised Abraham “And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.” (Gen 12: 2, 3) There was a time when it seemed like there would be no descendants and then the promised descendant was offered up on the altar so it seemed like the promises were in jeopardy again. However, the Lord was in control and nothing was in jeopardy. The interesting thing about the promise was that the Lord would bless all the families of the earth in Abraham. This did in fact happen when the Lord Jesus Christ, the greatest of all of Abraham’s descendants, died as an everlasting sacrifice for sin. This passage comes all the way back to the Abraham’s first personal encounter with the Lord. The Lord told him that all the families of the earth would be blessed. Now the Lord allows us to see what happened to Abraham’s family. Every person on earth has a family of some description, even though the may never know them. This means that every person on earth has access to all the blessing of belonging to God’s family as well.

Would you like to support this ministry? Please click this link: http://jamesmcnaught.blogspot.com/ and then click “Follow” and encourage all your friends to follow as well. You could also visit http://jamesmcnaught.com and consider buying Gulf or Reclaiming the Bible from the “Enlightened”.

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)