THE PROMISE AND THE CONVENANT
In Genesis 12: 1 – 4, God brought
an initial message to Abraham but from time to time He [God] Expanded it and
made Abraham understand more of what was in the promise.
THE
JOURNEY OF FAITH.
Hebrews 11: 8 – 9 tells us that,
when God brought the message to Abraham, he didn’t ask God anything, he just
trusted God to lead him. He was indeed a man of faith; the only thing he knew
was what God had told him.
Another thing to learn from this
is that Abraham was 75 years when God called him and his wife Sarah was 65
years. And at that time Abraham and Sarah has no child but Abraham didn’t
question God when he told him ‘… I will make of thee a great nation”… [Genesis 12:
2 – 3].
Mama Sarah was 65 years old but
was still attractive enough for the king of Egypt to desire her [Genesis 20:
2]. Now: Hebrew 11: 10 says when Abraham sojourned in the promise land, he
still look for a city which has foundations. Whose builder and maker is God.
How come Abraham got to the land of promise sojourned there and still looks for
a city?
This indicates that he lived his
life in a special way. The Bible lets us know that Abraham was a prophet, and
being a prophet he knew of the days of Christ. So Abraham has enough Spiritual
insight to know that God was not just referring to the land he stood upon. But
he knows that there is a city beyond what he can see.
In Hebrews 11, we read of other
men of faith who also looked forward to the promise but verse 13 says “These
all died in faith, not having received their promises, but having seen them
afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that
they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. So inspiring.
These men and women in Hebrews 11,
knew of the promise of God and they looked forward to it. They knew that
whatever it was they could not be compared to what God had in mind for them.
And they went further than just
looking forward to it, they acted like those looking for a better place and
live with the consciousness that they are strangers and pilgrims on the earth,
and that this present world is just a passing phase?
If only the people of God will
learn to live with this kind of consciousness and set their minds on Spiritual
things. God knows the things we have need ever before we ask Him. But the Lord
Jesus said … “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all
these things shall be added unto you [Matthew 6:33] The Bible says in
Colossians 3:2 that “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the
earth” He wants us to mind His business, so he can mind our business. David
said; “The Lord is mindful of us so he can bless us” [Psalm 115: 12]
The men of faith in Hebrews 11:3
all died in faith. Understand this: it is far better to die believing than to
live doubting: better to die believing than to live a life full of doubt, sin
and unbelief.
Better to die believing than to
live a wasted life, filled with all of the world’s good, Jesus asked, “For what
shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul”
[Mark 8:36].
Read [Hebrews 11; 13-15] Can you
see that if they had their minds on the place from where they came, they could
easily have gone back? But thank God they didn’t and we have them as our examples.
Read Also Hebrews 11:16-37.
But all these things did not
dissuade them from going after the real thing: a city prepared for them by God.
And God was not ashamed to be called their God because He had actually prepared
for them a city.
These men believed they had
something better in store for them; they are going somewhere. They had a
country to which they had been called. What’s more? They believed it to the
point they deed believing it. The Bible says, they had faith and lived by
faith. The reason they had faith was because they heard the word. Read Romans
10:17.
Until you hear, you cannot
believe. These men have so much faith because God has spoken to them. The word
of God brings faith.