Genesis 13:1-18 Making the Right Choices based on God’s Promises

The story and the life of Abram, who became Abraham [17:5] is recorded for us in Genesis Chapters 12 -25.  

In Chapter 12 we read of God’s call of Abraham to leave his country and kindred to go to a land which God would show him. Along with the call comes a set of wonderful and great promises: “I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing” [Gen.12:2]. He takes his nephew Lot, his brother’s son with him to the Promised Land called Canaan,   which is named after the cursed son of Ham.   God was planning to reverse the curse in this land and to make it a land of promise. All this foreshadows God’s great plan in terms of the new creation, the new heaven and the new earth [Rev. 21:1].   At Christ’s second coming the curse with which the earth has been cursed in Genesis 3 will be finally lifted, “and the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.” [Hab.2:14]  

As he arrives in the Promised Land however, a challenge confronts him and his family. There is a terrible drought, and he leaves there to seek temporary relief in Egypt. This presented him with further troubles, relating to his wife Sarai.  He almost lost his wife to Pharaoh due to a   lie concerning her which he told Pharaoh   in Egypt, when he said that she was his sister. But by the grace of God he was helped. We read of this in vv.  11- 20 and we asked the question whether Abram did right to go to Egypt for help, when he could have in fact relied upon the Lord to sustain him in Canaan in the midst of this drought, as He would indeed sustain Moses and Israel in their 40 year long journey through the desert into the Promised Land. All this reminds us that Christians, the called-out people of God, on their way to our heavenly city can indeed make bad choices, based on a lack of faith and a lack of biblical thinking and motivated by fear. If it were not for the grace and mercy of our faithful and merciful God, who forgives us in Christ we would never find our way out of Egypt back into the Promised Land. 

With that unhappy experience in Egypt behind him he, in Chapter 13,  returns  with all his family to  the promised land  where  he  finds his next challenge, and   in this challenge we shall find him a wiser  man. “So Abram went up from Egypt…into the Negev” (v.1).

1.                   The first thing we learn is that Abram returned to Canaan.  He left the place of compromise and deceit and he returned to the place of promise. As he retraces his steps we are reminded that this is the way of repentance.  The biblical idea of repentance[1], both in the Greek and the Hebrew,   contain the thought of turning away from one’s error or sin. Abram turns away from Egypt and returns to God’s design for him.  That is what you must do that when you have fallen into sin. You repent by confessing your sin, and by leaving the place of sin, and by returning to the place of blessing. That is the story of the prodigal son [Lk 15:11-32].  Zacchaeus the tax collector [Luke 19:1-10] demonstrated his repentance when he confronted by Jesus. He confessed his sin. He went to the people from whom he had unfairly exacted tax money and he paid them back with interest, and from then on he walked with God.  

Abram returned and he came to “Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between bethel and Ai, to the place where he had made an altar at the first, and there he called on the Name of the LORD.” [13:3, 4 cf. 12:8]. Griffith Thomas says: “Whenever we backslide there is nothing else to do but to come back by the old gateway of genuine repentance and simple faith.”[2] 

So, Abram went back to the place where he had first worshiped God in the Promised Land, and there he found grace in the eyes of the Lord.  We need to stop here for a moment and consider a fact that runs through the biblical narrative.  We often find that it is not the enemies of God, but God’s people themselves who are the cause of the problems that exist in this world. Many a time we  who are the church are quick to condemn the sin and hypocrisy of the world  around us, but fail to take the log out of our own eyes [See Romans 2:21-24]. If it had not been for God who had intervened on Abram’s behalf in Egypt there is no telling where he would have found himself at the end of the day.  And so it is with us.

So then, there between Bethel and Ai, Abraham found himself in that place in which he would meet with God once again. This is important for it influences the story line which follows from here.    

2.                  A new challenge arises, and it comes from his nephew, Lot. Another challenge!  The life of faith is rarely straight forward!  Now, both of these men, in the course of time, had grown very wealthy (v.2). Between them they had so much livestock that they found it hard to live together any longer.   We read in vv. 6-7 that “the land could not support both of dwelling together; for their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together, and there was strife between Abram’s herdsmen and the herdsmen of Lot.”  This is a real moment of tension, and sinful people can easily make such a situation worse.  But, at this moment Abram was living in the recent experience of the grace of God extended to him, and because of this he has become wiser and therefore instead of angry words and strife he can also extend grace to Lot.  Do you see what experiencing God does to you?  Knowing the grace of God experientially helps us to be more thoughtful, self-denying, and kind.   And so Abram took the initiative in vv.8-9 and he spoke to Lot about the problem. And this time he makes the right choice based on the promises of God.  These are the words of a man who had been humbled by God!  He was back in that place of trusting in the promises of God. Now remember that God and not   Lot had been promised to be the father of a great nation [12:2] (the mystery of election). He had been promised this when as yet he had no child and no son to carry on the family line. 

Lot would later become the father of the Ammonites and the Moabites, by an incestuous relationship with his daughters [19:30-38]. These tribes would become sworn enemies of Israel in time, but Abram believed that this land was his by God’s promise. Therefore he could say to Lot in a peaceful way, “Listen! Take what you want. I will take what is left!” Abram kept reminding himself whose he was, remembering who had accepted him and who loved him. Lot was not born of the chosen seed of the woman, and so we will see in time that Lot will become an obstacle to Israel.  Therefore this parting actually becomes a blessing. It becomes necessary.  This is worth reflecting on.  As Christians we often think face situations   in which we do not realise that those who are close to us can actually become obstacles in our Christian progress, particularly if they prove to be self- centred pursuers of their own agendas and not of God’s agenda, and this leads to a parting of the ways.  Fighting on every hill is not good. We have to choose our battle carefully. We need to be as peaceful as we can afford to be.  David had too much blood on his hands.  Let God sort Lot out!  This is Abram’s confidence. By faith he knew that the last page had not yet been written, and he could trust   God in this. And so he made the right choice based on the promises of God. When your eyes are on Jesus and His promises for you, then you will not easily be tempted to live for the quick fix!  Let the Gospel, the Good News of Jesus direct your agenda. Keep Christ before your eyes. David says in Psalm 16:8, “I have set the LORD always before me, because He is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.”  

And so Abram humbly says to his nephew, “You choose.” The Bible says that “whoever humbles himself will be exalted. [Matt 23:12]. Remember this principle as you live your life in this world! And as a church we must also remember this. As we participate in kingdom work, remember that the best way to remove those obstacles which prevent our reforming and building and expanding is to humbly walk with God, and according to His Word, and to be like the Lord Jesus, meek, just and patient.

Now Lot’s choice was based on what his eyes saw and desired. It was purely physical, and selfish. He quickly grabbed that which he thought was best:  “He saw that the Jordan valley was well watered everywhere like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt…” [v. 10]. Little did he   know that this was the land of Sodom and Gomorrah, filled with wicked great sinners against the LORD” [v. 13]. Little did he know this this land was soon to be judged with fire and brimstone.

“Abram settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled among the cities of the valley and moved his tents as far as Sodom.”[v.12]   so, it is clear now that Lot had abandoned the land of promise in which the operative principle was to live by faith in God’s promises. Abram, by contrast   will be blessed and he will become the sole inheritor of the land.

3.  The Lord Confirms The Blessing Coming On Abram After Lot Had Separated From Him. [Vv. 14-17] “All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever.”  In Chapter 15:18 God will provide specific details. The land will be from the Nile to the Euphrates.  The land would actually stretch far beyond Abram’s physical sight.   Again we learn the principle that we walk by faith and not by sight.  God promises exceedingly, abundantly, above that which the eyes can see. [Eph. 3:20, 21]

Abram’s offspring eventually received a substantial portion of the promised land of Canaan under Joshua, but not all.  Under David more of the land was taken, and under Solomon it became a reality…but not really, because God had even more in mind.  Abram is going to be the father of much more than a people who will a territory in the Middle East.  Abram’s offspring would be heir of the world.  [Rom. 4:13]. So here we are!  Children of Abram, offspring of the promises of God in Windhoek.  A vast multitude is being called out from every corner of the world, and all those who profess faith in Jesus are of the promised offspring of Abram, the father of our faith.  

As we speak from the perspective of this chapter, the Canaanites and Perizzites were still living in the land, and yet God told Abram to consider it as his own.   They would not be there much longer.  “So Abram moved his tent and came and settled by the oaks of Mare at Hebron, and there he built an altar to the Lord” (v.18). He is surrounded by enemies, but what God promises He will do. Nothing will separate Abram from the love of God, not even his temporary unbelief and lapse of faith in Egypt. God has promised. He is faithful, and Abraham knows it, and he is thankful and humbled because of it.

CONCLUSION:

Dear child of God, I don’t know where you are in your life’s journey. It is possible for you to be here today in the presence of God’s people and of God and yet, in your heart, be in Egypt. To you God says, “Repent and return!” Humble yourselves in the sight of God and He will lift you up.

Dear Child of God, trust in God. Be patient! Be kind to those who disagree with you. Let go of the aggressive pursuit of your own desires, and your restlessness and unbelief.  God is in charge.     In Christ you have received far better promises than Abram. You do not see it now, but by faith fix your eyes on them and on Jesus.  All things are yours.  This inheritance is ours. It is secured for you  by the Lord Jesus Christ and  it is guaranteed to you  by the Holy Spirit.  

Do not fear the strongholds of Satan and the kingdoms of men.  

Christ has already conquered them by his life and death. 

Walk and live in this this world in the confidence of the gospel! 

Amen.   

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[1] Greek: metanoia, literally to have a change of mind; Hebrew: There are two words for repentance in the Old Testament Hebrew.  One word is “nacham” which means “to be sorry” or “to regret” but the overwhelming majority of the time it is used (391 times) it means “turn” or “return” (“shuwb”).

[2] Quoted in: Philip Eveson: The Book of Origins, p. 261, Welwyn Commentary, Evangelical Press 2001 

John 4:1-26 "True and False Worship"

“But the hour is coming, and is now here when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit  and in truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship Him. God is  Spirit  and those  who worship Him  must worship  in spirit  and  truth.” (John 4:23,24)

You will remember that Jesus spoke  these words  to a  Samaritan woman  at a well at Sychar, near the field that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.His disciples has gone to town to buy some food. He was tired and thirsty, and He asked the woman for some water since she had the equipment to draw water from the well. 

This episode starts an unusual and a remarkable conversation.  It was unusual in that Jews and Samaritans were not on speaking terms, due to longstanding historic hostilities. It is unusual because this woman is   a prostitute. She has slept with many men, and Jesus points out that the man that she is with at the moment is not her husband. But as Jesus asks   for water from this Samaritan woman   we find here an amazing conversation on the nature of true worship.

Now the Samaritans were descendants of Jews of the Northern kingdom of Israel, after 722  BC after the conquest of their territory by the Assyrians. They had subsequently interbred with the nations around them, and had also developed a mixed religion. They had built a separate worship place on Mt. Gerizim and they rejected all of the Old Testament except their version of the first five books of Moses. That religion therefore contained similarities   with the Jewish faith, but it had mixed in elements of idol worship and the embracing of a system of worship that was far from the true worship of God. This story then is about a woman who learned the meaning and practice of true worship   as she came to know the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. It was a divine appointment. It was a life changing experience. It was a movement in which she moved from the death of the soul caused by false worship into the life giving knowledge of Spirit revealed truth as it is in Jesus.

So  then  the basic  fact here is  that  Jesus  is  talking to a woman who is lost  in a system  of false worship. To begin with, she did not know who Jesus was. He was, to her just another Jew, but there was already   something that drew her attention to the fact that He was different. He spoke to her, a Samaritan and a woman,  and thus her surprised response:  “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” [v.9]. He asked her for some water, which came from an ancient well that Jacob, whom the Samaritans also owned as their ancestor and father, had dug.  

But Jesus was going to do more than just ask for water from the well of their common ancestor. He was going to make her a radical counter offer. He would offer her   living water. That thought fascinates her. Living water?  Water which shall never make you experience thirst again?  That sounds like a good idea. “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water” [v.15].  But she does not really understand who Jesus is and what He is talking about. He needs to take her a little further.

“Go and call your husband…”. Here begins the process of helping her to see that He is more than just a tired and thirsty Jew looking for water.  She answers, “I don’t have a husband.” Jesus replies, “That’s right. But you’ve had five, and the man who you are with now is not your husband.” She was shocked!  How did He know this? There is only one possibility.   “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet”!   A prophet is a spokesman of God. The true prophets of God always challenged the nation to return to true worship. False prophets always led the nation into false worship.  So this discussion and Jesus unusual knowledge of her domestic circumstances leads to the heart of the matter for which Jesus had come to speak to her: the   nature of true and false worship. False worship leads away from God. True worship leads us to God.

She initiates the discussion. She says in v. 20: “Our fathers worshiped on this mountain; and you [Jews] say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.”  Please note, that from this point onwards Jesus never goes back to the issue of her adulterous life. He had come to the topic that was really important.

At this point it is important to understand  that the whole world may be divided into two classes of people: true worshipers and false worshipers, and Jesus is now here to make the vital distinction between the two, and we shall learn that that vital distinction lies in Himself.

Verse 21   is the turning point:  “Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.”  Jesus says   that true worship is not confined to a location or place. At one time Jesus pointed out that those that were worshiping  in the temple of God in Jerusalem (Matthew 15:8)  were  indulging in false worship.  “This people honour me with their lips but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me.”  True worship comes not from attending a holy place. True worship originates in the heart. So Jesus reminds the woman that true worship is not about her mountain of worship (Mt. Gerizim) or the Jewish mountain of worship (Mt Zion).  

How you worship is vastly more important than where you worship !

Verse 22 introduces the question of whom or what you worship. “You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.”  Here Jesus begins to make the vital distinction between true worship and false worship. The Samaritans rejected all the Old Testament except for their version of the books of Moses. Their knowledge of God was deficient and so their worship was deficient.  

Incidentally, the Jewish system of worship, though they had the full revelation of God was also deficient (see Nicodemus in John 3) because they failed to see in their full Scriptures  the Lord Jesus Christ as their Messiah. Jesus had to point out  in John 5:39,40:  “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.”  

True worship comes from the heart and it must be based on a true perception of God in Christ. V.23 brings the discussion to a climax: “But the hour is coming, and now is here , when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.”  

What does it mean to worship in spirit and truth?  

For the answer to this we need to go back to  John 3 and the conversation that Jesus had with Nicodemus.  Here Jesus shows  Nicodemus that true spiritual worship, based on  true spiritual understanding   begins when you are born again  (John 3:1-8). It is the Holy Spirit that makes the crucial difference. He helps our spirits to truly worship, because He shows us who Jesus is.   It is the Holy Spirit who gives life to our spirits, and so when Jesus says that true worshipers worship in spirit, He means that true worship only comes from spirits that are made alive by the Holy Spirit. 

No amount of church attendance, singing, raising hands, hearing good preaching will make you a true worshiper. You must be born again by the work of the Holy Spirit. He must change your idolatrous heart into a heart that loves God your Father and Jesus as your Mediator and the Holy Spirit as   your Life Giver. That is what the Bile teaches. That is what you must believe and practice. Real worship comes from the spirit within and is based on true views of God.

Worship must have heart and worship must have head. Worship must engage your emotions and worship must engage your thought.  Head without heart produces dead orthodoxy.  Heart without head produces emotionalism that easily leads to spiritual deception.

True worship comes from people who know God and who love Him deeply! 

Let us investigate  the word  worship  a little  further, to help us  to see what true  worship  leads us to do.

The word “worship” comes from an ancient Anglo- Saxon word “weorthscipe“.   It literally means to attribute worth to someone – hence “worth – ship“.

The following words   are commonly translated as worship  in the English language:

(i)     The Hebrew word   “shachah” and the Greek word “proskuneo“, indicate a bowing down; a prostration before God.

(ii)   The Hebrew word “abodah”   and the Greek words   “leitourgia” and “latreia”, which indicate   the rendering of service to God.

Worship  is both,  a bowing down and a rendering of service to God. The act of worship has to do with yielding oneself up for the service of God.

Worship is therefore an attitude and an act. The worshiper knows who he/she is before God, and because of this they prostrate themselves before God. This attitude of the heart ultimately governs  your attitude  in  worship. This is what leads to a life that worships God in spirit and in truth (John 4:23, 24).

This is at the heart  of  our  Sunday worship. The seventh day in particular is designed to focus our attention on God, and having bowed before Him in worship, and rightly instructed in the Holy Scriptures  we disperse to serve Him   throughout the week as   we live consciously in the presence of God as we work, eat, play and sleep.  

APPLICATION: A right understanding of God leads to a life of worship!

Unfortunately  the meaning  of  biblical worship  has been  watered down by the contemporary emphasis  on  worship  as ‘singing’. Much emphasis in Namibian church is on the worship leader and the worship group. A lot of money is spend in purchasing sound equipment , instrument, lights  and smoke machines so that the  worship service begins to look more like a disco  or a  concert.   Music produces feelings  and many Namibian people confuse feelings with the Holy Spirit. Many of our Namibian churches sing so much that they are tired when it comes to careful listening   and obeying of the Bible. 

Biblical worship has been watered down as many of our churches do not place the correct preaching of the Bible, the Word of God at the center of their worship services. And sadly, even when the Bible is opened so often the Bible is not preached reverently and passionately and in the power of the Holy Spirit, because the preachers themselves are not worshipers.

The truth is that worship is more than Sunday attendance and singing.  It is the living out of the truth that we sing about on Sunday. Sunday worship moves beyond the sermon, the ordinances, the prayers and songs of adoration into a life of worship throughout the week. It is living out our lives in worship for the  rest of the week, as we obey God  in everything.

True worshipers become better husbands, wives, parents and children. 

True worshipers become better employers and employees. 

True worshipers are humbled by the Word of God. They are filled with the fruit of the Spirit. Under the Word of God they are transformed into  a people that love God and  who love  the church and who love people  and who love this lost world. 

They love to share the gospel with people like   the Samaritan woman  who is caught up in idol worship. 

They are eager  to  introduce them to  Jesus who frees them by His Holy  Spirit from false worship.

John 14:1 - 3 “WHAT IS HEAVEN LIKE?”

The doctrine of the ultimate state of man’s existence –i.e. eternal life  in a place called heaven or hell  generally receives little attention  among  the Christian people  of  our age. One heretical preacher’s bestselling book even claims that you can have your best life now. The so called Christian exponents of the health, wealth and prosperity movement are known to want to create their heaven on earth, except that death gets eventually in the way! Very recently I had conducted the funeral of a man who had left this movement and attended our church, and he really had trusted in the Lord Jesus. His wife and family had not joined him and they could simply not get to terms with his cancer and mortality and until the end they claimed his healing.    The point is that heaven, for many is not more desirable than this life. What about you? Are you content to live out your allotted years on this earth, and are you really looking forward to heaven? 

I have chosen this text from the gospel of John to remind you that  soon you and I will face  eternal reality, and if you are a Christian  I want  to  encourage you  to look forward  to that day.

The Context :

·         Upper room discourses in  John 13-17- The night He was betrayed. Jesus was facing His own death

·       Last supper – the foot-washing, servant act of Jesus – The betrayal of Judas and Peter’s denial is foretold.

·      The mood  is  one of  pessimism.  Jesus’ intention is clearly announced in 13:1. “Jesus knew that His hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father…“. And in 13:33 He says, “Little children, yet  a little while  I am  with you… Where I am going, you cannot come.” Simon Peter asks Him, “Lord where are you going?“ (13:36),to which Jesus responds, “Where I am going you cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterward.”

So we see that the hearts of the disciples are troubled and discouraged. Their beloved Teacher and good friend  is saying that He is going to leave them. Jesus responds: “Let not your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, trust also in me.“ (14:1). And He proceeds to give them two important assurances:  

(i)           Vv.2,3 He is telling them that He is going away to prepare a place for them. And He promises to come back to fetch the. By this He indicates that they will see him again. 

(ii)          Vv.16- 18. He would not leave them as orphans. He would  provide Another One like himself – and from that follows the  doctrine of the Holy Spirit  which we find in Jn. 14:15ff and Jn. 16:5ff.

In giving them these two assurances Jesus caters for His disciples immediate security (sending the Holy Spirit) and future security (heaven)

But as we consider now  verses 1- 3, we are interested by what He means  by   His “Father’s House “ where there are “many rooms” which  He is intending to “prepare”  for them. 

The big thought  of this  message is that  heaven is a home for Christians! 

The Father’s House  here is  another word for heaven, the place to which Jesus had ascended, and from where He shall come again.  The term heaven is not used here, but it is often used in the OT  (shamayim - pl. noun lit. the heights) and  in the NT (ouranos).  The terms  “shamayim” and “ouranos“  are used in  3 senses:

(i)           The atmospheric heaven. This is the sky, or the troposphere—the atmosphere that surrounds the earth. That is the first heaven.

(ii)          The planetary heaven, the second heaven,  the abode of the moon, stars, and the planets.

(iii)        The third heaven, the one Paul speaks of in 2 Corinthians 12, is the heaven where God dwells with His holy angels and those saints who have died. The other two heavens will pass away (2 Peter 3:10); this heaven is eternal. It is this place that Jesus refers to here.

And so, when you ask, what is heaven like, we have here a remarkable description of what heaven is like.  Jesus calls it “the Father’s house”!  Heaven is compared to a home! And in this home we have  a Father and a brother and a very big family  in a setting of absolute sinlessness, perfect joy and  eternal peace. Regarding the aspect of joy, we may believe that there will be  continued satisfaction and happiness in heaven. Martin Luther once said, “If you’re  not allowed to laugh in heaven, I don’t want to go there“.  Heaven  will be a happy place.  Regarding our family in heaven  we shall have the unspeakable privilege not only to see and enjoy  the company of our heavenly Father, but also that of our elder brother, Jesus and we shall experience the continual ministry of the  Holy Spirit, but we shall also be in the company  of all the fathers and the mothers of the Old and New Testaments.

In  heaven no one shall ever complain that others have too much while  we have too little. In heaven there shall be no misunderstanding or arguments. There will be no hospitals and no cemeteries. And if there is work  to do, which is  something that God  has ordained and which is part of  His creative being  and our beings, there will  be no  policemen, soldiers and lawyers, for there will be no war and no crime.  There will be no doctors and nurses and hospitals, for there shall be no sickness. There will be no churches and no denominations and no pastors, for there shall be one flock and one shepherd - the Lord Jesus Christ. There will be no regrets in heaven, no tears, no second thoughts, and no  lost causes, Everything in heaven is purposeful and meaningful.

And since  language will exist in heaven, there will be many words missing from that dictionary. Words like  stealing, prison, adultery, murder, lying, coveting, idolatry- all those things  forbidden  in the 10 commandments, will not exist in heaven’s dictionary.

When Christians die they go home to their Father’s house. Have you ever thought of this? God’s eternal plan centers on family structures. God created society to be made up of families. Churches may be described best as families, the household of God [1 Tim 3:15]. Heaven is a family home.  When Jacob dreamed at Bethel [Gen. 28: 10ff], earth and heaven was connected with the angels ascending and descending on a stairway between the two. When Jacob awoke  he had the distinct impression  that he had been in God’s  direct presence. And what did he conclude from that?  He said, “how awesome is this place . This is none other than the house of God ; this is the gate of heaven… he called that place “Beth- el” which means “House of God”.

So it true to say that heaven is a  home. Therefore it is a distinct place.  And while it is true to say that  God is everywhere,  and that  He manifests His presence  everywhere, yet it is also true that there is also a special place in which He manifests  Himself  in a visible, glorious  and uninterrupted manner.  Heaven is His throne room, His center of command, if you like.

The architecture of the earthly temple helps us to understand this. In the temple there were many rooms and spaces, but there was the holy of holies, that place where God’s presence on earth was supremely manifested. Well, this is the picture of heaven, but the real heaven of which the earthly holy of holies is but a shadow is far more profound than we are able comprehend right now. The operative principle  by which we live now is by  faith … we live in anticipation of that  eternal home.  We live in anticipation of entering into the holy of holies – the very presence of God – heaven!  It is ours already by inheritance through the Son who has justified us and cleansed us from all sin, and who ALONE enables us enter the Father’s presence!  But we are not there yet! But in a little while …

We are presently like Abraham of whom it is said, “that he was looking forward (by faith) to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.” [Hebr.11:10]. This is the same city as that which is described in Revelation 21 and  22. 

Heaven is our eternal home!  Right now we are not at home. We are strangers and aliens here. Do you feel it, dear Christian? It is true that  we have important  work to do here, and important relationships to pursue, and right now we need  to pay attention to  them. But do you find that your thoughts wander frequently  and longingly to your heart’s true home? 

The many “rooms” (KJV mansions)which are prepared for us by the Lord Jesus in heaven: The KJV translation “mansion” is  misleading in our modern context. You might be tempted to think that you might occupy your own Buckingham palace in heaven. But the word used here in the original does not indicate such. The Greek word used here is “mone”^[1]. It simply means “dwelling place”. But the significance of this dwelling place is that it shall be our eternal dwelling place.  Presently we actually live in temporary dwellings. Many of us have moved so often in life, and we  have had so many  dwelling places  here on earth, that we are certainly looking forward to our final dwelling place, where we shall never  ever have to pack and unpack a single  thing again!

What will heaven’s architecture and dwellings look like? We have very few descriptions, but one of them is found in Rev. 21:9 – 22:5 (read)

For a moment however we must take our eyes  off the physical  beauty of heaven and consider  the atmosphere  in which  we will live. We all know that we can live in a beautiful mansion, but in which we never feel at home. What makes a house a home? The atmosphere! And what is the atmosphere of heaven?  In 1738 Jonathan Edwards preached a series of messages to his congregation in Northampton, Massachusetts, on 1 Cor. 13. The last message he preached was taken from 1 Cor. 13: 8 – 10, and it was entitled, Heaven – a world of love. That text, you may remember, tells us that many things will pass away, but love never.  In that sermon Edwards preached his heart out! In essence he reminded his hearers that the atmosphere of heaven is “perfect love”. He begins with the Triune God whose supreme attribute is “love“. The Triune God lives in a love relationship. Thereafter he covers  the fact that  everything in heaven is  “lovely”  - “perfectly lovely “- uninterrupted , mutual expressions  of perfect love flowing from the Creator to His creation and between the creatures  to one another! Nothing imperfect will ever jar our relationships in heaven. And you who are deeply wounded and hurt because of your broken relationships here on earth - look forward to that wonderful atmosphere of heaven. Heaven is more than a place or a street address at which we shall live. Heaven is a “state of being“. It is a state of wellbeing! And it is connected to the state of our bodies.   The truth is that our present bodies are tabernacles, tents – temporary lodgings. In heaven we will be clothed with our “immortal bodies” [1 Cor. 15:53,54]  –  bodies that do not  get  sick, depressed, discouraged, confused, lonely  -   in our eternal city  [Hebr. 13:14] … our eternal house not built by human hands  [2 Cor. 5:1] .  And now lastly, remember that …

Heaven is a prepared place for a prepared people

Jesus said: “I go  to prepare  a place for you”.  

Who are the “you?” 

Heaven is a place for sheep. There are no goats in heaven. Sheep are the people that Jesus died for [John 10].  There will be great multitudes of Jesus’ sheep,  from every nation, tribe, people and language standing before the throne and before the lamb [Rev.  7:9] in heaven.

Heaven is a real place. It doesn’t find a natural home in our heart. But it must, and it only happens  when  Jesus becomes  our  Saviour. He  is the way. He is the only way for you to heaven. Until you come to Jesus, heaven will have no attraction for you – but worse still - heaven will reject you. George Swinnock said: “Heaven must be in you, before  you can be in heaven.“

And the question for each one of us is this: “Shall I occupy a place in this house  with many dwelling places? “

Someone once asked the Lord Jesus this question in Luke  13:23:  “Lord  are only a few people going to be saved?“  The Lord Jesus  does not give a direct answer to that question, but he turns the question upon the questioner and says to him:  “Make every effort (strive – agonize)  to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you , will try to enter and will not be able to.“   

Jesus is the narrow door. Look to Him. Trust in Him. Follow Him. Only prepared people go to heaven. And prepared people by definition are those, who have become participators in Christ, whose blood covers their sin. Heaven is for prepared people. Are you among them?

Beloved people, my abiding interest for you and yours is  this : Not that you may be firstly healthy, wealthy and prosperous , but  that you may firstly be lovers of God and  therefore citizens of heaven. Nothing  shall give me greater pleasure  than knowing  that it is well with your soul. 

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[1] The word “ monastery” comes from this root

Genesis 12:10-20 : Abram’s First Trials as a Man called of God

The story of Abraham in Genesis 12-25 is filled with many profound truths upon which our faith is built. Indeed, I want to say that this portion of Scripture is the "Gospel according to Abraham”. Think about that for a moment. What is the Gospel? It is the Word of God’s covenant love made personally known to an undeserving sinner. That is how the gospel of God came to Abraham. God, in His free, sovereign love chose to manifest Himself to Abraham, an undeserving pagan from Ur, telling Him that he would become the father of many people in the world. These, like Abraham, would be endowed with the gospel gift of faith to believe in the One Living and True God of the Universe. 

However, as we read the story of Abram’s faith and walk with God, we begin  to notice very soon that this loving call to belong to God does not come without some severe challenges. Behind us we have 11 chapters of Genesis. Beginning with Chapters 1 and 2 – the  good creation of the world,  follows the fall of man in Genesis 3. Here  we find the beginning of our many challenges.  Before the fall, man had only one challenge, “You may eat of every tree in the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” [Gen. 2:17]  

A flood of problems follows after the fall. Life has become, as we would say, “complicated”. Life following the fall is filled with trials. Even believers are not spared from the effects of the fall and from trials. We shall learn that Abram and his offspring, men and women of faith are kept by grace alone and helped by Almighty God through their various trials.

So then, we have the story of Abraham before us. Last time we considered the call of Abram. At that time we had noted that Abram had not been looking for God! God was looking for Abram. Furthermore, Abram did not dream his own dreams for the future. He did not write his own job description. 

God’s mission became his mission: “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land  that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation…” [12:1,2]   

A great promise! But it will all happen in the context of many trials for Abram.  The first trial was the fact that Sarai his wife could not have children [11:30]. The next trial was that he would have to leave his country, his familiar surroundings and his family to go to a foreign and distant land.  Following this there would be the great rigors associated with trekking 1500 kilometres to the place of promise in Canaan. Canaan would be occupied by a hostile, evil people upon whom a Divine curse had been made in Genesis 9:25.  But there would still be more! God is testing the man whom He has called. He is testing him at the very core of his being, namely with regard to His promises made to Abraham:

(i)                 In terms the promise made with regard to his offspring, the obstacle is a barren wife.

(ii)          In terms of  the promised  land the obstacle is  that  he has hardly arrived when  he has  to leave  for Egypt, because  of the severe famine. In fact, we shall learn that he is never really able to settle down in the land of Canaan.  Hebrews 11 reminds us that Abram died without the promises of God being fulfilled to him with regard to the physical land of Canaan.

(iii)             In terms of the promise that he would be a blessing to the nations, he saw very little of it. He received the promise by faith, and with hindsight we know that God did honour his faith in generations to come.   

In every promise made to Abram, God tests him. We need to grasp the significance of this.  The God who calls us into His loving covenant tests our faith through many trials. Jesus said that we must enter the kingdom of God through many sufferings.  Our trials are not designed to make us fail, but to purify us and to show us that, in the end, we stand by grace alone and not by our own goodness and efforts. We learn that it is not our ability to successfully pass every trial  that makes us acceptable to God. Rather, we learn that the gracious  hand of God continues to lead us, enabling  us to persevere with Him  through the many  complexities of life, despite our many  our failures.  I have known this for many years, but oh, how little I still understand this!  

We learn that in the midst of Abram’s failings, God persevered with Abram, and we know that Abram did persevere to the end. We need to know this, because God tests and matures us in exactly the same way today, and that sets the stage for the incident that we see here.

Abram has to learn what we all need to learn with such great difficulty -  to trust God  and to put no confidence in the flesh. He and we  must learn   that  we cannot  have children of promise, we cannot possess this land, we cannot be a blessing to the world without the help of God. He has to learn to live by trusting in God alone.

V.10  A Famine  leads Abraham into  Temptation

"Now there was famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there for the famine was severe in the land."  Here comes a trial of faith. Did God bring   Abram here, only to let him and his people of the promise die of hunger?  Surely not!  There is something greater behind this, and the greater plan was this testing and strengthening Abram’s faith. Faith is both a  free gift of God and  at the same time  it is something that needs to be developed in each true believer. Very often we learn only through our mistakes and our failures.  The decision to go to Egypt was a mistake!  Remember that God had called him out of Ur and then out of Haran to start a new community, by taking possession of the land of cursed Canaan. He was to leave his country, his people and  his father’s household and  become the father of  a new way of living and thinking under the direction of YAHWEH.   

His promised land was Canaan and not Egypt. Now you may ask, “but what do you do when there is a famine in the land?” Is that not what Jacob did? Did he not settle in Egypt at the time of another famine in order to survive. Isn’t that  a responsible action (Gen. 47)?  

Well, maybe at face value, but it appears that God intended to show Abraham the nature of His faithfulness IN and THROUGH the drought in Canaan. I also remind you that Jacob’s going to Egypt did not prove to be an ultimate blessing to the nation.  We have to be very careful in being tempted to escape short term problems, for they often produce more problems than they solve. God is committed to His people in their hardships. He is committed to providing for them their daily bread, as He did when He led His people out of Egypt back to Canaan in the day of Moses. You will remember that daily miracles were the order of the day as God’s many people moved through waterless and barren deserts.  Would God not provide through the drought? Would He not hear prayer for daily bread? Would the rain not finally come and end the drought, as has happened here in Namibia at this time, in response to the pleas of many of our people? 

It seems that Abram did not trust God in this trial.  And in so doing he almost lost his wife and his life!  He did not gather Sarai and Lot and all the people with him saying, “Now we must pray for God’s daily provision until He finally sends the rains and end this terrible drought and famine?”  Instead, Abram looked to Egypt, the bread-basket of that region at this time. Egypt  remained  a great  temptation for the people of God at all times. 

Isaiah the prophet in Isaiah 30:1-3 had to remind the people of his day: “Woe to the obstinate children, declares the LORD, ‘to those who carry out plans that are not mine, forming an alliance, but not by my Spirit, heaping sin upon sin; who go down to Egypt without consulting me; who look for help to Pharaoh’s protection, to Egypt’s shade for refuge. But Pharaoh’s protection will be to your shame, Egypt’s shade will bring you disgrace”.

The tendency to want to solve our problems by taking shortcuts is ever with us.  We find ourselves often in the same predicament as did Abram. The Gospel of Jesus has found us in our pagan places. We have heard the call of Jesus to follow Him, and that is where faith is challenged. Jesus calls us to love Him more than we love this world. He calls us to live as citizens of heaven. He calls us to live in faithfulness, obedience, perseverance to him despite our trials. He intends to grow us through these. Is that not what James has in mind in Chapter 1:2-4?  

But we are so very tempted to take shortcuts in our life with Christ. We seek solutions that sound so very reasonable, but which if you think about it, encumber us and enslave us rather than truly help us. Abram is trying to find his own way out of a dilemma.  He is trusting the Lord, but a man has to live,  doesn’t he?  Can you see how quickly our faith  can be undone?

And so, Abram, went to Egypt, and  as he went away from the famine in Canaan, his worries started to increase in Egypt! 

That wasn’t supposed to happen, right?  

But, knowing something about the culture of the Egyptians (and the  heart of man in general)  and their fancy for pretty women, what would the Egyptians do with his beautiful wife? And so he starts planning and scheming to evade a new problem [vv.  11-13]. 

And, sure enough, it happens! [vv 14-16] 

His plan to survive is back-firing. 

His life is now in greater danger in Egypt than it was back in the famine of Canaan. Sarai, who he  deceitfully  presented as his sister,  is now in the hands of another  man. And in her place he received sheep, oxen, male and female donkeys, male and female servants and camels” (v.16). He has lost Sarai and gained animals.   But in reality he has lost the most important person in relation to the fulfilment of the covenant blessing. He literally had no future without Sarai.  Without her, the wife of his covenant,  there could be no future blessing.

How can this poor decision be reversed?

How can God make Abram  into a great nation now?  How is  the Messianic line  going to develop?  How  will Jesus, the Messiah, born of the line of David, in the ancestry of Abraham come? 

Answer:  God intervenes! If God did not constantly intervene in our lives, picking us up when we fall, bringing us back when we go  astray, patiently bearing with our unbelief, forgiving our sins and restoring our souls – then what helpless, hopeless men and women we would  be? 

BUT  THE LORD… v.17   Thank God for the great  But's  of the Bible!  God, through painful plagues revealed to Pharaoh  that Sarai was in fact Abram’s wife, and what Pharaoh was doing here stood in the way of God’s great plan.  I remind you  that God did say to Abram,  as he was about  to leave the city  of Ur,  “I will bless those  who bless you, and him who dishonours you I will curse…”  (v.3). 

These were not empty words. God’s promise stood.  And so Pharaoh and Abram learned a very big lesson that  day. Pharaoh had  the wisdom not to strive with God , and we learn that Abram is no hero. He is a weak man, BUT he is a chosen  son of God , and that fact makes  the big difference.

And so,  the thing that needs to happen, happens. 

Chapter 13:1 reads, “So Abram went up from Egypt… into the Negeb “… back into Canaan, the land of promise,  where he belonged.  The incident has a happy ending, yes, but it is obtained by the humiliation of Abram and the discovery of the weakness of his unbelieving heart.

This part of Abram’s life  is not recorded to encourage you to  think  that you  may sin so  that grace may abound. It is written to remind us that we all have hearts like Abram, hearts that seek shortcuts, hearts which doubt the  goodness  and faithfulness of God. This  is written  to remind us that God loves  His people and that He extends grace to us,  despite  ourselves. 

God is determined  to save His people, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against them.  Our unbelief will not stop the advance of God’s kingdom. And it is all ultimately rooted in the depths of His covenant love  for us. 

And that love  was made known to us  supremely in Jesus  Christ  who laid down His life for ALL our sin!  Amen.