The Death of Abraham (Gen 25:1-11)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.040 --> 00:00:07.750 Turn Now to Genesis Chapter Twenty Five. So Genesis Chapter Twenty Five, this 2 00:00:09.189 --> 00:00:14.189 I'm here. We see the transition of the promises on that were given to 3 00:00:14.310 --> 00:00:22.019 Abraham, now coming to Isaac. This is not a denial or a failure 4 00:00:22.100 --> 00:00:26.820 on God's part to fulfill these promises, but it is the fulfillment of them. 5 00:00:26.940 --> 00:00:34.340 So let's hear God's Word Now Genesis Chapter Twenty Five. This is versus 6 00:00:34.619 --> 00:00:42.049 one through eighteen, or one through eleven. Rather, Abraham took another wife 7 00:00:42.090 --> 00:00:49.329 whose name was Katura. She bore him Zim Ran Jockshan made on Midian Ishbak 8 00:00:49.490 --> 00:00:57.000 and Shuah Jockshun fathered Sheba and died on the sons of deed on were Asahuram, 9 00:00:57.679 --> 00:01:03.960 led Toshim and Leumim, the sons of Midian where EFA Efer, Hannach, 10 00:01:03.349 --> 00:01:10.989 Abida and Elda Elda. All these were the children of Katura. Abram 11 00:01:11.069 --> 00:01:15.069 gave all he had to Isaac, but to the sons of his concubines. 12 00:01:15.189 --> 00:01:19.819 Abraham gave gifts while he was still living. He sent them away from his 13 00:01:19.939 --> 00:01:25.780 son Isaac, eastward to the East country. These are the days of the 14 00:01:25.859 --> 00:01:32.659 years of Abraham's life. One hundred seventy five five years Abraham breathed his last 15 00:01:32.819 --> 00:01:36.930 and died in a good old age and old man and full of years, 16 00:01:37.450 --> 00:01:42.049 and was gathered to his people. Isaac and Ishmael, his son's buried him 17 00:01:42.090 --> 00:01:45.689 in the Cave of Makpalah, in the field of e from the son of 18 00:01:45.730 --> 00:01:49.920 Zohar, the Hittai, east of Mammor, the field that Abraham purchased from 19 00:01:49.959 --> 00:01:56.239 the Hittites. There Abraham was buried with Sarah, his wife. After the 20 00:01:56.319 --> 00:02:00.000 death of Abraham, God blessed Isaac, his son, and Isaac settled at 21 00:02:00.120 --> 00:02:09.830 Beer Lehigh Roy God bless his word to us. Well, I have a 22 00:02:09.870 --> 00:02:15.900 very simple message for us tonight from God's word here, because what we see 23 00:02:15.900 --> 00:02:23.659 here in Genesis Twenty five is what we've seen many times throughout they account of 24 00:02:23.979 --> 00:02:30.409 Abraham, and it's simply this God fulfills his promises. He really does. 25 00:02:30.409 --> 00:02:36.090 We see, as the e end of Abraham's life draws near and then he 26 00:02:36.210 --> 00:02:40.090 has as he dies, that God has done as he said he would do, 27 00:02:42.289 --> 00:02:46.800 and this gives us hope for ourselves for God's faithfulness to these promises in 28 00:02:46.919 --> 00:02:53.000 our life and him. So let's consider that. Let's consider what were God's 29 00:02:53.039 --> 00:03:00.789 promises to Abraham. How did we see them fulfilled? One of them is 30 00:03:00.830 --> 00:03:07.349 is from Genesis fifteen. Fifteen. The scriptures say, as for you, 31 00:03:07.430 --> 00:03:09.909 you shall go to your father's and peace you shall be buried in a good 32 00:03:10.030 --> 00:03:15.740 old age. So it's God's promise to Abraham, not five minutes before he 33 00:03:15.860 --> 00:03:20.340 died, but many years before he died. God kept this promise. We 34 00:03:20.500 --> 00:03:27.610 read here the days of Abraham's life were a hundred and seventy five that he 35 00:03:27.770 --> 00:03:30.569 died, and he died in a good old age and old man in full 36 00:03:30.650 --> 00:03:36.770 of years and was gathered to his people. A second promise that we see 37 00:03:36.810 --> 00:03:40.599 fulfilled is that a son would be born to Abraham, a promised son, 38 00:03:40.840 --> 00:03:46.560 a chosen son, an elect son, who would be born to him a 39 00:03:46.719 --> 00:03:53.199 miraculous birth and would carry on in him these promises, the promises that Abraham 40 00:03:53.280 --> 00:03:59.229 would become a great people. If you would, let's turn back to the 41 00:03:59.389 --> 00:04:03.110 beginning of this story in Genesis Chapter Twelve and read this and a few other 42 00:04:03.229 --> 00:04:10.340 verses just to remind ourselves of these great promises, because these are not just 43 00:04:10.500 --> 00:04:14.819 the promises to Abraham but, as they are fulfilled in Isaac and ultimately in 44 00:04:14.979 --> 00:04:19.860 Christ and as we are in him, these are our promises are as well. 45 00:04:20.980 --> 00:04:25.769 So let's hear them. First, genesis twelve. Here's how the Lord 46 00:04:25.889 --> 00:04:30.810 called Abraham. Now the Lord said to Abraham or Abram, go from your 47 00:04:30.889 --> 00:04:34.410 country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show 48 00:04:34.449 --> 00:04:38.959 you and I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you 49 00:04:39.120 --> 00:04:43.319 and make your name great so that you will be a blessing. I will 50 00:04:43.360 --> 00:04:46.439 bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, 51 00:04:46.879 --> 00:04:51.560 and in you all the families of the Earth shall be blessed. And then 52 00:04:51.600 --> 00:04:56.149 we read that Abraham did exactly that. He gathers his people, he gathers 53 00:04:56.709 --> 00:05:01.110 his wife and he goes to the land of Canam. Then, as we 54 00:05:01.230 --> 00:05:06.110 turn to Genesis Chapter Fifteen, where we find the verse that I read before, 55 00:05:08.220 --> 00:05:13.019 we read in the beginning of Chapter Fifteen, these words. After these 56 00:05:13.180 --> 00:05:16.100 things, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision. Fear 57 00:05:16.220 --> 00:05:20.100 not, Abram, I am your shield. Your reward shall be very great. 58 00:05:20.930 --> 00:05:24.329 But Abram said, Oh, Lord God, what will you give me 59 00:05:24.490 --> 00:05:29.209 for? I continue childless and the air of my house is Eliezer of Damascus 60 00:05:30.050 --> 00:05:32.769 and Abram said, behold, you have given me no offspring, and a 61 00:05:32.889 --> 00:05:36.959 member of my household will be my heir. And behold, the word of 62 00:05:38.000 --> 00:05:42.399 the Lord came to him. This man shall not be your heir, your 63 00:05:42.519 --> 00:05:46.920 very own son shall be your heir. And he brought him outside and he 64 00:05:46.000 --> 00:05:49.149 said, look to the heaven and number the stars. If you're able to 65 00:05:49.230 --> 00:05:54.949 number them, then he said, so shall your offspring be. And he 66 00:05:55.029 --> 00:06:00.910 believed the Lord and it was counted to him as righteousness. And he said 67 00:06:00.949 --> 00:06:03.029 to him, I am the Lord who brought you out from her of the 68 00:06:03.029 --> 00:06:06.620 Chaldeans to give you this land to possess. But he said, Oh, 69 00:06:06.699 --> 00:06:10.339 Lord God, how am I to know that I shall present possess it? 70 00:06:11.420 --> 00:06:15.139 And it was there that, after this, we read of God's Covenant Making 71 00:06:15.259 --> 00:06:20.850 with Abraham and this promise to take all of these promises and commitments on himself. 72 00:06:24.569 --> 00:06:27.970 Now Abraham had to wait. Right there is some space of time between 73 00:06:28.129 --> 00:06:31.920 Genesis twelve and Genis fifteen, and again there's some more space between genesis fifteen 74 00:06:32.399 --> 00:06:38.800 and genesis seventeen, where we finally find Isaac, Isaac's birth. Let's begin 75 00:06:38.920 --> 00:06:44.160 reading now, the beginning of seventeen when Abram was ninety nine years old, 76 00:06:45.879 --> 00:06:49.230 the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, I am God Almighty. 77 00:06:50.149 --> 00:06:55.550 Walk before me and be blameless, that I may make my covenant between me 78 00:06:55.750 --> 00:07:00.790 and you and may multiply you greatly. Then Abraham fell on his face and 79 00:07:00.870 --> 00:07:03.019 God said to him, behold, my covenant is with you and you shall 80 00:07:03.060 --> 00:07:08.779 be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your cull it 81 00:07:08.819 --> 00:07:12.100 name be called Abram, but you shall, your name shall be Abraham, 82 00:07:12.980 --> 00:07:15.569 for I've made you the father of a multitude of nations and I will make 83 00:07:15.610 --> 00:07:19.490 you exceedingly fruitful and I will make you into nations and kings shall come from 84 00:07:19.529 --> 00:07:25.329 you, and I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring 85 00:07:25.410 --> 00:07:30.879 after you, throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant to be God to 86 00:07:30.959 --> 00:07:34.079 you and to your offspring after you, and I will give to you and 87 00:07:34.279 --> 00:07:39.160 your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, 88 00:07:39.480 --> 00:07:46.470 for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God. So what 89 00:07:46.670 --> 00:07:51.509 is God promised to Abraham? He promises, we might say, three things, 90 00:07:51.550 --> 00:07:58.189 three primary things, all related to each other. One he promises him 91 00:07:58.230 --> 00:08:01.540 offspring. First, a particular offspring that would be borne to him, Not 92 00:08:01.660 --> 00:08:07.540 Eliezer of Damascus, one that would come from Abraham himself, not a servant, 93 00:08:07.699 --> 00:08:11.660 not a slave, but would come and would come by God's own working, 94 00:08:13.290 --> 00:08:18.569 to him and to Sarah. Elias Oar wouldn't be suitable, and neither 95 00:08:18.610 --> 00:08:24.329 would ishmael. When, eventually, Sarah would put forth Hagara, a concubine, 96 00:08:24.410 --> 00:08:28.160 and say perhaps there can be union here, perhaps a child can be 97 00:08:28.319 --> 00:08:31.480 born here, and God again says no, I will produce this child and 98 00:08:31.600 --> 00:08:35.159 my own means and my own way and my own time. To Abraham and 99 00:08:35.440 --> 00:08:41.120 Sarah, the child would be born. He promises him an offspring and he 100 00:08:41.200 --> 00:08:46.830 promises through this offspring all the nations would be blessed. The second thing God 101 00:08:46.909 --> 00:08:50.230 promises to Abraham is this land in which these people would dwell. He brought 102 00:08:50.269 --> 00:08:56.220 them out of earth of the Chaldeans into the land of Canaan. He promised 103 00:08:56.299 --> 00:09:01.779 to give him and that land. And finally and most importantly of all, 104 00:09:03.940 --> 00:09:07.500 expressed in these two other promises, is this last one, that God would 105 00:09:07.539 --> 00:09:15.570 be a god to him and to his offspring forever. That is the core 106 00:09:16.009 --> 00:09:20.690 promise here. A relationship between God and man that is one of peace, 107 00:09:22.210 --> 00:09:31.360 protection, guidance, revelation, and God kept that promise throughout Abraham's life, 108 00:09:31.440 --> 00:09:33.919 through the ups and downs, God continued to keep that promise. Even at 109 00:09:35.000 --> 00:09:41.110 very strange moments, even in very strange ways, God would keep his promise. 110 00:09:41.190 --> 00:09:45.590 And now Isaac has been born to an old man and an old woman, 111 00:09:45.629 --> 00:09:50.990 and Isaac will carry on those promises, because the promises we're not just 112 00:09:50.269 --> 00:09:54.899 to Abraham but, as we read, to his offspring as well after him. 113 00:09:54.940 --> 00:10:00.379 And so when we come to genesis twenty five, we see that much 114 00:10:00.419 --> 00:10:05.980 of what this chapter is about is establishing Isaac in legal ways, as the 115 00:10:07.019 --> 00:10:13.970 legitimate air and we read in the past last chapter, in Chapter Twenty four, 116 00:10:13.009 --> 00:10:18.250 Verse Thirty Six, and Sarah, my master's wife, bore a son 117 00:10:18.370 --> 00:10:24.320 to my master when she was old, and to him he has given all 118 00:10:24.480 --> 00:10:31.799 that he has, all that Abraham had, including these promises, the Covenant 119 00:10:31.840 --> 00:10:37.549 Promises He gives to Isaac, and we see that happening here at his death. 120 00:10:39.029 --> 00:10:43.429 This genealogy that's given here is not only meant to explain things that later 121 00:10:43.549 --> 00:10:50.259 come, but it's also meant to establish Isaac as the Chosen One, as 122 00:10:50.340 --> 00:10:56.940 the promised one to all of these children got. Abraham gave gifts for six, 123 00:10:58.179 --> 00:11:01.860 but it was to Isaac that he gave everything. Isaac received the full 124 00:11:01.980 --> 00:11:11.529 estate and the other sons received his good will. They didn't receive the inheritance 125 00:11:11.610 --> 00:11:16.490 and in fact he sends them away to the East country. Why? So 126 00:11:16.610 --> 00:11:22.440 that Isaac would enter into those promises, so that Isaac would have that land 127 00:11:22.519 --> 00:11:26.080 of Canaan. And again we see that expressed in the last verse. I 128 00:11:26.279 --> 00:11:31.840 read verse eleven. Isaac Settles at Beer Lehigh Roy. This is the place 129 00:11:31.879 --> 00:11:37.110 where God made a promise to Hagar and Ishmael. We see a kind of 130 00:11:37.269 --> 00:11:41.269 displacing of these people. I'm God not failing to keep his promises to them. 131 00:11:41.350 --> 00:11:48.019 He still does, but we see Isaac's supremacy, not in and of 132 00:11:48.179 --> 00:11:52.460 himself. Right, Isaac, what are you do? This is born right, 133 00:11:52.899 --> 00:12:01.019 but in God's choosing of this one, he fulfills. God fulfills his 134 00:12:01.259 --> 00:12:05.610 promise. We also see a promise and of hope in things to come. 135 00:12:07.370 --> 00:12:16.080 God promises interestingly to Abraham, this everlasting covenant, these everlasting promises, and 136 00:12:16.200 --> 00:12:22.759 yet Abraham dies and he dies without receiving in full these things that have been 137 00:12:22.840 --> 00:12:28.399 promised. We know this from the text of scripture here in Genesis, and 138 00:12:28.600 --> 00:12:33.389 we know this as well from Hebrews. Listen to what Hebrews Eleven says from 139 00:12:33.389 --> 00:12:41.309 the New Testament, verse eight. By faith, Abraham obeyed when he was 140 00:12:41.429 --> 00:12:46.179 called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. 141 00:12:46.220 --> 00:12:50.259 He went out not knowing where he was going. By faith, he 142 00:12:50.379 --> 00:12:54.220 went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, 143 00:12:54.779 --> 00:13:00.049 living in tense with Isaac and Jacob, airs with him of the same promise, 144 00:13:01.529 --> 00:13:05.370 for he was looking forward to the city that house foundations, whose designer 145 00:13:05.610 --> 00:13:11.769 and builder is God. By faith, Sarah Herself received power to conceive, 146 00:13:11.970 --> 00:13:16.159 even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful. Who 147 00:13:16.200 --> 00:13:20.000 had promised? Therefore, from one man in him, as good as dead, 148 00:13:20.039 --> 00:13:24.120 were born descendants as many as the stars of Heaven and as many as 149 00:13:24.159 --> 00:13:31.190 the innumerable grains of the sand on the sea. Sure these promises that were 150 00:13:31.269 --> 00:13:39.230 given to Abraham, these were promises of things to come. Abraham went into 151 00:13:39.309 --> 00:13:46.299 that land called the land of promise and lived in tense, lived waiting for 152 00:13:46.580 --> 00:13:52.460 the full possession of these things. And while those things, those earthly things 153 00:13:52.620 --> 00:13:56.450 were a measure of what is promised. Abraham understood that there was something more, 154 00:13:58.529 --> 00:14:01.090 something beyond the dirt of Caine and something beyond the dirt of all of 155 00:14:01.169 --> 00:14:05.090 this world. As verse ten says, he was looking forward to a city 156 00:14:05.169 --> 00:14:11.200 whose foundations, whose designer is builder, is God. Listen to verse thirteen 157 00:14:11.399 --> 00:14:16.480 now and then I'll finish with the section the author says. These all died 158 00:14:16.720 --> 00:14:24.200 in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and 159 00:14:24.429 --> 00:14:28.429 greeted them from afar, having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the 160 00:14:28.629 --> 00:14:33.149 Earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a 161 00:14:33.470 --> 00:14:39.019 homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone 162 00:14:39.059 --> 00:14:43.379 out, they would have had opportunity to return, but as it is, 163 00:14:43.620 --> 00:14:50.019 they desire a better country, that is a heavenly one. Therefore, God 164 00:14:50.100 --> 00:14:52.370 is not ashamed to be called their God, for he is prepared for them 165 00:14:54.289 --> 00:15:00.889 a city. So what was Abraham's perspective? What does the New Testament tell 166 00:15:00.929 --> 00:15:05.450 us? It tells us that he lived by faith. He lived by faith 167 00:15:05.490 --> 00:15:11.080 in the promise. He could see it from afar, right on the horizon, 168 00:15:11.919 --> 00:15:18.399 just over the horizon, coming up, but knowing that he lived by 169 00:15:18.440 --> 00:15:26.149 faith. He knew that God would bring those promises to pass. When Genesis 170 00:15:26.190 --> 00:15:31.309 Twenty five says he was gathered to his people, it gives us an expression 171 00:15:31.350 --> 00:15:35.580 of a sense that Abraham expected, that the people of God expected, even 172 00:15:35.620 --> 00:15:39.059 in the Old Testament, even before we know about the resurrection of Christ and 173 00:15:39.100 --> 00:15:45.620 all of these things, a hope in the afterlife, hope and something more, 174 00:15:45.860 --> 00:15:50.409 of something waiting, and certainly Abraham saw this. Yes, he lived 175 00:15:50.450 --> 00:15:54.330 in the Promised Land, but he didn't think of it really as his homeland. 176 00:15:54.169 --> 00:15:56.409 He didn't think of that as his homeland, or did he think of 177 00:15:56.529 --> 00:16:00.809 Er from the Chaldeans as his homeland. He Thought of Heaven and as his 178 00:16:00.929 --> 00:16:06.120 homeland. That's what he was waiting for and that's why, after all, 179 00:16:06.159 --> 00:16:10.600 he brought that Kit, bought that cave at Machpelah. It was a confession 180 00:16:10.840 --> 00:16:12.639 of faith. Really, there was a hope in the things to come. 181 00:16:12.799 --> 00:16:19.669 And there he was buried, not a desperate, sad burial of a man 182 00:16:19.710 --> 00:16:25.470 who didn't receive his promise, a burial in a foreign land, but a 183 00:16:25.789 --> 00:16:29.590 but but a burial with hope in the things to come. We bury are 184 00:16:29.669 --> 00:16:33.539 dead in the same way. Don't we we don't bury them and say, 185 00:16:33.620 --> 00:16:37.700 well, guess that didn't work out, God didn't fulfill his promises. No, 186 00:16:37.820 --> 00:16:42.220 we bury them in hope. We bury them knowing that God will raise 187 00:16:42.419 --> 00:16:48.929 up those who have died, that God will keep his everlasting promises, his 188 00:16:48.169 --> 00:16:56.129 everlasting covenant. We, like Abraham, lived by faith. We are much 189 00:16:56.169 --> 00:17:00.480 further along in this journey. We are much closer to the end than he 190 00:17:00.799 --> 00:17:06.240 was, but we also live as strangers and exiles here. It's a good 191 00:17:06.400 --> 00:17:10.000 place. It's a place where God has put us there. Many blessings. 192 00:17:10.039 --> 00:17:12.799 Were grateful for it. We love our neighbors. We work hard too. 193 00:17:12.880 --> 00:17:18.509 Thumbs up to all of that. But we cannot begin to speak of the 194 00:17:18.589 --> 00:17:23.750 glories of our true homeland, of our heavenly Pomeland, of the things that 195 00:17:23.910 --> 00:17:27.630 are to come. God has prepared a city for us. Jesus himself now 196 00:17:27.750 --> 00:17:33.660 resides there and he will come again and reveal all these things into time. 197 00:17:36.380 --> 00:17:40.619 And so, though he doesn't receive the fullness of all of these things, 198 00:17:40.700 --> 00:17:48.369 he nevertheless does receive these promises, and we see that in these various ways. 199 00:17:48.410 --> 00:17:52.849 And so, to conclude this this point, the end of Genesis Twenty 200 00:17:52.890 --> 00:17:59.240 five, what we see is the is the beginning of this story. I'm 201 00:17:59.319 --> 00:18:04.640 really beginning to roll. Isaac has been born. There they are in Canaan. 202 00:18:06.119 --> 00:18:10.119 The people of God are growing and and and these things will, of 203 00:18:10.200 --> 00:18:17.190 course, continue into the future. The other thing that we ought to see 204 00:18:17.230 --> 00:18:22.710 here, and I'll just mention two more briefly. The other thing we ought 205 00:18:22.750 --> 00:18:25.950 to see here, in addition to God's fulfillment of his promises, is God's 206 00:18:25.950 --> 00:18:32.059 special election and his generosity. One of the great truths that we've seen in 207 00:18:32.460 --> 00:18:38.019 his covenant with Abraham is that it is God who does this work. Abraham 208 00:18:38.059 --> 00:18:41.809 didn't wake up one day and say I want to be a more religious person, 209 00:18:42.730 --> 00:18:45.849 I want to worship the one true God, and then he went out 210 00:18:45.890 --> 00:18:49.410 into the world and he studied a bunch of religions and then he found the 211 00:18:49.569 --> 00:18:52.369 one true one, and then, by his own reason and power, he 212 00:18:52.650 --> 00:18:57.920 worked his way up into the heavenly places wherein he and God fellowship together. 213 00:19:00.079 --> 00:19:06.519 No, God calls him out of his idolatry and darkness and says come and 214 00:19:06.599 --> 00:19:11.109 the effects Abraham in such a way that Abraham says yes, sir, and 215 00:19:11.349 --> 00:19:18.549 goes with great risk and great sacrifice. He goes the special election of God 216 00:19:18.069 --> 00:19:22.430 on Abraham is repeated in a special election of Isaac, as we've mentioned. 217 00:19:22.710 --> 00:19:26.220 How about Elie is are? How about Ish Meil? How about this? 218 00:19:26.299 --> 00:19:30.900 How about that? No, no, no, I will do this thing 219 00:19:30.339 --> 00:19:33.819 in my time, my way. When you're as good as dead, that's 220 00:19:33.859 --> 00:19:37.180 when I'll do it, Abraham, when everyone in the world would have given 221 00:19:37.180 --> 00:19:41.809 up all hope, that's when I'll do it. Why? To teach us 222 00:19:42.930 --> 00:19:48.609 that God is the author of our salvation, that it is God who is 223 00:19:48.690 --> 00:19:52.009 our rock, it is God who is our savior, it is God who 224 00:19:52.170 --> 00:20:02.599 is our rescuer and not us. We might ask why Isaac and not Ishmail? 225 00:20:03.720 --> 00:20:06.880 Why Jacob, but not he saw? Why Abraham? Why me? 226 00:20:07.509 --> 00:20:14.150 These things we can't fully answer. God does is he does, but one 227 00:20:14.309 --> 00:20:18.950 thing we do know. He does it to teach us that he is sovereign, 228 00:20:19.190 --> 00:20:23.539 that he is in control, and then it's only by his pure, 229 00:20:23.940 --> 00:20:30.259 electing love that we have any standing in him. And that is a great 230 00:20:30.299 --> 00:20:36.289 comfort to us when we find weakness in ourselves, when we find doubts, 231 00:20:36.410 --> 00:20:41.049 when we find trials, when we remember that this is God's work and not 232 00:20:41.250 --> 00:20:48.089 mine, there's Great Comfort in that. My resurrection from the dead is not 233 00:20:48.329 --> 00:20:55.240 dependent on me figuring everything out. It's dependent on the Lord who began in 234 00:20:55.359 --> 00:21:02.680 this work and has promised to bring it to completion. So God has fulfilled 235 00:21:02.720 --> 00:21:07.430 his promises and in that we've seen God's special electing, love, his generosity 236 00:21:07.630 --> 00:21:12.349 to his chosen people, and beyond that as well. He is not totally 237 00:21:12.750 --> 00:21:17.390 thrown away anyone who doesn't belong to this family, just the opposite. He 238 00:21:17.589 --> 00:21:21.660 gives them gifts, he gives them places to live, he preserves them in 239 00:21:21.779 --> 00:21:26.380 this world and ultimately he will call them, through the sending out of the 240 00:21:26.500 --> 00:21:33.009 Gospel, through the apostles, back into these covenants, the gentiles of the 241 00:21:33.130 --> 00:21:37.970 world, people that were strangers and aliens to these covenant promises, people like 242 00:21:38.130 --> 00:21:47.759 us, God calls back in. And finally we see in Genesis Twenty five 243 00:21:47.920 --> 00:21:53.720 and in the story of Abraham God's Promises of future faithfulness fulfilled here in some 244 00:21:53.920 --> 00:21:57.920 ways in full, some ways in part. But ultimately these things are to 245 00:21:59.079 --> 00:22:03.670 prepare us for the promise of the sending of God's own son, the birth 246 00:22:04.430 --> 00:22:10.789 of Jesus. If the birth of Isaac was a miracle, the birth of 247 00:22:10.910 --> 00:22:15.740 Jesus is ten times that. The birth of Jesus this long awaited one, 248 00:22:15.900 --> 00:22:22.579 this prophet, priests King, this son of Abraham, this son of David, 249 00:22:22.660 --> 00:22:30.170 to take upon himself all the government of God, to take upon himself 250 00:22:30.650 --> 00:22:37.730 the role of ruling and reigning over his people, where we see people and 251 00:22:37.130 --> 00:22:42.890 place coming together in a final and perfect way, where God will be with 252 00:22:44.210 --> 00:22:52.599 his people, Emmanuel, forever, even as one of them. All of 253 00:22:52.759 --> 00:22:57.119 these things, these genesis things, these beginning things, are preparing us for 254 00:22:57.279 --> 00:23:07.509 the things to come, and so let us live by faith in them. 255 00:23:07.990 --> 00:23:12.180 This is God's call on our lives. He we, like Abraham, have 256 00:23:12.339 --> 00:23:18.299 been called out of darkness, rescued out of darkness, that we might belong 257 00:23:18.579 --> 00:23:22.539 to the Kingdom of God, that we might belong under the sun, that 258 00:23:22.660 --> 00:23:30.289 we might belong to the new Jerusalem, the city who has foundations that are 259 00:23:30.569 --> 00:23:37.970 built by God, a city whose foundations will not be shaken, a people, 260 00:23:37.170 --> 00:23:41.319 a place, a God, where we can live and reign in peace 261 00:23:41.519 --> 00:23:48.200 forever and ever. Let us put our faith in the Lord, trust him 262 00:23:48.200 --> 00:23:53.119 for all things, in this life and in the next. Let's pray