Genesis 23 - 25

Genesis 23 opens with the death of Sarah Abraham wife. As we said before the Bible is an unfolding primarily, of the character of God Almighty. Human beings in our fallen state don't know anything about Him. He has to reveal Himself to us in order for us to know that He exist and that He is Almighty God. The Bible deals with God's interaction with human beings. It is not myths, legends, fables, but it is truth, it tells us of God's dealings with people, real people. The death of Sarah speaks to that. The people ho God interacts with live their lives, carry out their part of God's plan and they die. From the vantage point of the Bible we see that the most important issue is humankind's separation from God. Because the Bible is about God unfolding His plan of redemption, it is not about how many planets are in the universe, how big the universe is, it is about how can humankind avoid going to hell. Since Adam's sin humans try to hide from God, we don't want an intimate relationship with Him, we even doubt His existence, satisfied with an theory that tells us how life came to be, and why there is something and not nothing. We are satisfied with any answers or no answers at. It was a time when we would think about what was termed the big questions; who am I? why am I here? Our culture has fallen so far that the generation's in our schools today don't consider these questions. There was a time when our culture held Sunday as a day of rest, nothing was open, you could not go to the store, you could not conduct business.Yet Sunday has no significance anymore. The Bible tells us about God's interaction with humans, it tells us about the character o God and it tells us about our own character, from God's viewpoint. Sarah dies and Abraham has to go the the people there in order to buy a parcel of land so he can bury Sarah. The man whom God has promised to give his descendants all of the land he can see, has to buy land so he can bury his wife. The eleventh chapter of Hebrews the faith chapter tells us that Abraham and many before him died in faith, not having received the things promised but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. (Hebrews 11:13) It goes on to say that they were looking for a homeland, a city that has foundations, designer and builder is God. Abraham bought the field of Ephron in Machpelah, and he buried his wife Sarah there. Abraham lived thousands of years ago. We are living in the year 2013, we have much that the people then did not have, and that is wonderful, our technological achievements have been given by God to help u, and we should use them to His glory. We do however need what Hebrews tells us about the people of faith, the people that God dealt with. We need that intimacy with God that they had. I'm not saying we should be seeking to hear voices, see angels, have dreams, that is the way to be fooled and the way of counterfeit for Satan can do all those, what Satan cannot do is to cause you to grow in grace, is cause you to bear the fruits of the Spirit, Satan cannot do the work of the Spirit. Abraham desired a city made by God. How about you do yo have any desire to see heaven, or does this world hold you so fast, that you cannot see anything but what it shows you. If we are Christians we soul be spending time with Christ, reading His Word, Praying to Him, fellow shipping with other believers. Encouraging and edifying each other,and the Spirit is working within all of that increasing your desire for Christ, w, as Christians should be just like Abraham, desiring a city made by the hands of God. My prayer is that God would work that in all our hearts, so that the time comes form us to die, as Sarah died, we will not see it as the loss of all, but the entrance into the presence of the One we have seen from afar, but now will see face to face.

Genesis 24 tells us the story of Abraham sending his servant to get a wife for his son Isaac. As I said before we need to read these things because they are recorded for our spiritual benefit, as stated earlier, the Bible's main purpose is to reveal the plan of redemption that God has provided in His sheer grace. Prayerfully reading the Old as well as the New Testament is for our spiritual well-being.
The story of how the servant encounters Rebekah and how he prays to God, reveals to us God, for God is always in the details. As the servant brings Rebekah back we see the shift from Abraham to Isaac. This is the purpose of God. When you read the Law in the books of Exodus and the other books of Moses, you see that God's Law says that the parents are to read the Word to their children, they are to bring them up under the Word. That is God's purposes. Christians people are the ones this applies to. One of the basis of the homeschooling was this. People wanted to bring up there children in an environment that was more godly. We all can see that the public school system for the most part can't help us if we want to send our children to a godly environment. Isaac come onto center stage now. Abraham was ready to offer him up in a sacrifice for he trusted in God to raise the dead. In Genesis 25, Abraham dies he was 175 years old, he was buried in the field of Ephron with Sarah. Verse 11 says that after the death of Abraham, God blessed Isaac his son, and Isaac settled at Beerlahairoi. The Bible states that both Ishmael and Isaac buried Abraham their father, the chapter tells us a little about Ishmael,that 12 princes were his descendants as promised to Abraham. But the promises were to be carried on through the son of promise Isaac and it is his story that continues going forward and the one the Bible is focused on. After prayer had been made Rebekah became pregnant and she gave birth to Esau and Jacob. We see an example of God's sovereign election displayed here for God tells Rebekah when she inquired about the struggling of the twins before they were born, God tells her :the older shall serve the younger." We have to always remember that God chose Abraham not because of anything Abraham possess but by God's sovereign grace. That is how God always chooses. We have nothing to brag about, it is God's choice. God is not unfair, God deals justly with all, but He has mercy on some. We will start at Chapter 26 next time.

Blessings!