Chuck Larsen

When we checked in at the Airport for our flight to Israel some time ago, we had to show our passports. They wanted a solid photo ID to prove we were who we said we were. The airlines won’t take us at our word, they want some proof. The religious leaders in Jesus’ day understood his claims and they asked for proof. They wanted signs and wonders and even when they got them they didn’t believe Him. But Jesus’ best answer to them to prove who He was came in John 5:46. He told them that His portrait, photo ID, was on every page of the Old Testament and especially in the books of Moses. He said, “if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote about me.”

I’ve been looking for Jesus in the Old Testament and especially in the writings of Moses. I’ve been in  Genesis for the past several months looking for Jesus. I found Him in creation, in the fall, in the flood, even at Babel, and in Abraham’s call. But one of the clearest photos of Jesus is seen in the life of Isaac, the promised seed of Abraham. Isaac is a prototype of Jesus in too many ways to cover in this short devotional thought. Just about everything about Isaac is really pointing to Jesus Christ. Isaac was the promised seed of the woman as was Jesus. The miracle birth of a 90 year old woman sets the stage for the miracle birth of a virgin according to Old Testament prophecies.

But the most beautiful observation about the two is that both Isaac and Jesus had fathers who were willing to sacrifice their sons “on a hill far away.” The hill was named in Genesis 22:14. It’s Mount Moriah. That verse says that Abraham named that mountain a more meaningful name. It says, “So Abraham called the name of that place, ‘The LORD will provide’; as it is said to this day, ‘On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided.’” According to 2 Chronicles 3:1, Mount Moriah is in Jerusalem. The range of mountains where Abraham built his altar would later become the very spot where Christ would die for the sins of the world. That’s why Genesis 22 keeps emphasizing the particular site of the mountain chosen by God (vv. 2, 3, 9, 14). “In the Mount of the LORD it shall be provided.” Two millennia later and two millennia ago, God became a man, went to the cross, and there, shedding His blood, bridged the gulf between His own holiness on the one hand, and you and me on the other. On the mountain of the Lord, it was provided.

Peter called Lot “righteous” even though he lived among the wicked and came to a very bitter end. God called Noah Righteous even though he came to a disgraceful end as well. Abraham is another man that God calls righteous. He’s righteous not because he’s perfect (thank you, Lord), but because he trusted God. Genesis 15:6 says, “And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness.”

Abraham was far from perfect. The story in Genesis chapter 20 is a perfect example. He lies to Abimelech about Sarah and lets him take her for his wife. But God intercedes and protects Abimelech from Abraham’s lie. Then he blesses Abimelech and Abimelech responds by blessing Abraham with great wealth. Clearly we see the truth of Romans 8:28, “God works all things together for good, to those who love Him.” He even uses our sins for His own purposes. God doesn’t love us for what we can do for Him. His love for us is unconditional. But this is not license to sin; it is confidence in spite of our falling into sin.  We’ve all sinned in the past and we’ll all sin in the future and if the truth be shared we are all sinning at the moment. There are sins of commission and sins of omission as we’re instructed by James.

Most of you have heard the children’s hymn, “Jesus loves me. This I know for the bible tells me so. Little ones to him belong, I am weak but he is strong, Yes, Jesus loves me.” There’s another verse that we don’t sing very often. It says, “Jesus loves me when I’m good, when I do the things that I should. Jesus loves me when I’m bad, even though it makes him sad.” Yes, Jesus loves me and you even when we’re bad also.  Kent Hughes writes, “It is so common to think that God will love us more if we perform some great work, some external achievement. But the Bible (and here the story of Abraham and Abimelech) focuses on making a great heart. Here God was working in Abraham to create an unusual dependence upon him, because (Kent quotes Oswald Chambers here) ‘He chose and used somebodies only when they renounced dependence on their natural abilities and resources.’” It is faith that pleases God. Without faith “it’s impossible to please God.” I read that somewhere.

Abraham is the most significant figure in the Bible with the only exception being Jesus Himself. It might come as a shock to learn that God’s choice of Abraham has nothing to do with Abraham’s worthiness. One commentator added, “God does not look down from heaven to find a person who has a bit of saving faith or a bit of righteousness and then say, ‘Oh, isn’t this wonderful! I’ve found somebody with a little bit of true faith! That makes it possible for me to save him. I think I will.’” No, not at all. According to Genesis 6:5 when God looks down from heaven upon the sons of man, he sees only evil in our hearts. Romans 3:10-12 says, “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away; they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”

Abraham is no exception! We know that his father worshiped the moon god of Ur and trafficked in idols. That trait was handed down to his great grandchildren. Jacob still maintained household idols. He was told to leave his family and their household. He took many of them with him! Abram was called from Ur to go to the Promised Land but only went halfway to Haran and stayed there for 20 years. These chapters are not about Abraham’s faithfulness to God, but it’s about God’s faithfulness to him. God’s promises to Abraham had to do with the promise of Genesis 3:15. The seed of the woman that would crush Satan’s head would come through him and his wife Sarah. He lied about his wife to Pharaoh and Abimelech to protect himself – putting the promised seed of the woman in jeopardy. God had to miraculously intervene in both cases. He doubted God and called Eleazar his heir! He doubted God and called Lot his heir! He doubted God and took Hagar to produce Ishmael as his heir.

Yes, Abraham, the great patriarch of faith, had his own hang ups and was anything but perfect. But God was faithful. Abraham was on a faith journey, and like Abraham our future rests upon God’s faithfulness not our own.  All along the way we are learning that we can trust God and even if it takes a miracle, He’ll ensure our safe arrival. One commentator said, “God is always dependable, while we may not be at times. When we face setbacks, God is faithful. When we face guilt, God is faithful. When the bank account goes, God is faithful. When a loved one dies, God is faithful. When we know we have been faithless, God is faithful.” God is the only real marine; Always faithful!

There’s no questioning the fact that Abraham was God’s man. The whole creation account followed by the fall of man, the death of Abel, the call of Noah, the judgment of the flood and the tower of babel is covered in just 11 chapters. Fourteen chapters are devoted to the life of the Patriarch, Abraham. Actually, the rest of the Old Testament is about him and his descendants. And Paul, in the New Testament, looked back to Abram as the greatest of all examples of how God’s people are to be justified by faith and not works.

Boice said, “No one can understand the Old Testament without understanding Abram, for in many ways the history of redemption begins with God’s call to him. The record of Abram’s life contains the Bible’s first mention of God’s righteousness (Gen. 15:6). Matthew includes Jesus’ genealogy in his Gospel in order to trace the beginnings of salvation back to Abram (Matt. 1:1). Luke includes Zechariah’s declaration that Jesus’ birth occurred in fulfillment of God’s promise to Abram…” Yes, Abraham, the father of the Jewish Nation, the father of the Islamic nations, and the father of all Christians is the central human figure in the Bible, second only to Jesus.

Boice goes on, “Great sections of the New Testament explain the significance of Abram. To support the doctrine of justification by grace through faith, an entire chapter of Romans refers to God’s dealing with Abram. Two chapters of Galatians refer to Abram’s life to prove that salvation is given apart from good works. One of the longest paragraphs in Hebrews 11 is devoted to the growth of faith in the life of this Hebrew patriarch.” Further, Abraham is referred to as “God’s friend” twice in the Old Testament (2 Chronicles 20:7, Isaiah 41:8) and once in the New Testament (James 2:23). What was it that made Abraham God’s man? Was it his good works? Was it his obedience? Wasn’t it simply because he believed God? If Job speaks to us of hope beyond the grave and if Hosea speaks to us of divine love in-spite of our spiritual adulteries, Abraham’s life teaches us that it’s only by faith that we can have intimacy with God. As the writer of Hebrews says, “without faith it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:6).

In Genesis 14, Abraham went to war with neighboring tribes. It was a difficult time, yet he was able to form a coalition that defeated the enemy and freed the captives, of which Lot and his family were part of. But this left Abraham at odds with many of his neighbors. Things were tense and Abraham realized that if they were to come for him, and him alone, when he didn’t have the support of his allies, he’d be dead meat! He was afraid of what might happen to him. It didn’t help much that he had insulted the King of Sodom, an ally, who wanted to give Abraham some of the spoil that was returned, but Abraham wouldn’t take anything from him. This could have left Abraham at odds with both his enemies and his allies.

It was in this mood that God appeared to Abraham and said to him in Genesis 15:1, “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” This phrase, “I’m your shield” means that God will protect Abraham in his journeys through life. He will be present with Abraham and will never desert him even in times of trouble and distress. This image is repeated for us in the Psalms and elsewhere that God is a shield for his people. He will secure us from all evils, always coming between us and harm. If this is the case, and it is, it should silence all perplexing, tormenting fears Abraham could have. It should silence our fears also.

Unfortunately, like Abraham, you and I are imperfect people. Although we sit here and I write (and you read) these thoughts about Abraham we intend to trust God and not be afraid, we still are easily distracted from God’s promises through the course of our day to day living and need regular reminders. We drift from problem to problem and lose our focus on the more important things every day.  We often feel that everything is against me! In Genesis 42:36 that’s exactly how Jacob felt. He even told God “Everything is against me.” He forgot God’s promise. I forget God’s promise also. When things pile up around us and even when friends begin to look like enemies don’t forgot God’s promise “I am your shield.”

The citizens on the plains of Shinar built a great city and a tower to reach up into heaven. Genesis 11:5 tells us that God “came down to see the city and the tower.” Here again God speaks to us in human terms. It’s a figure of speech called anthropomorphism. God didn’t literally come down because He’s everywhere! It’s used to arouse attention to the fact that as man wanted to reach God’s abode, heaven, no matter how high he might build God would always have to look down upon it. Boice says, “Here were men attempting to build a great tower. The top was to reach to the heavens. It was to be so great that it and the religion and defiance of God it represented would make a reputation for these citizens of Shinar. There it stood, lofty in its unequaled grandeur. But when God wants to look at it he comes down. He has to stoop low to see this puny extravagance.”

Flying home from Israel we saw the huge cities below us. Philadelphia with its main sky scrapers looked so puny from several thousand feet above the earth. I remember seeing the twin towers once flying home from overseas and noticed they looked like a couple a small dominoes from the airplane window. The great pyramids of Egypt are specs in the sand at a certain height. It’s so for all human constructions.

Boice goes on to observe, “So also with our intellectual or spiritual achievements. The greatest is nothing compared to the immensity of the universe, not to mention the universe’s Creator. The only truly significant accomplishments are God’s (sometimes in and through us), for only these partake of the nature of God and endure forever, as God does.” But God, from His vast perspective and power, looked down on us tower builders and condescended to our needs and took upon himself the body of flesh. He became the sacrifice that would pay the penalty for our own rebellion against God. No one can reach God by any human effort. No one can satisfy the longings of the soul through any religious practice. But the Lord Jesus Christ came down to us in order to lift us up to Him.