Belief

"But his obedience caused Israel to leave slavery with all the wealth of Egypt, not a one sick or feeble, not an animal lost among them."

I USED TO TELL my daughter we would make three stops while we were out, that I didn’t feel up to doing more than that. I’d much rather come back another day and do a couple more than drown myself in errands in one afternoon. True to her thinking, she’d then pick out three stops she wanted to make, and so my three became six. This happens with other planned events. Something simple between two people becomes two people and their son or daughter, an extra plate, a little less food for each person, then a fourth shows up, maybe the husband, and you have to give up your plate entirely. I went to the store the other day for two particular items, and as happens with grocery shopping, picked out things not on my list, only to find out, my cart partially filled, that those two things I came for were out-of-stock. So instead of visiting one store, I ended up at two, the store across the street having both things I went shopping to get. Things are always more complicated than we plan. We built our house, had the architect draw up the plans, had the builder begin construction, then discovered along the way things that “just wouldn’t work” and were loaded down with twenty-grand worth of impact fees that we didn’t see coming. We learn to adapt, to accommodate people and events that have pushed themselves upon us. We prefer the other person, although it is inconvenient at times.

Joseph gave command about his bones, although deliverance from Egypt wouldn’t come in his lifetime. That he gave the command shows his faith in its happening. He would not be left in Egypt. At that point in the story, when Israel was freed from bondage, they obeyed as he’d directed, but not much more is said of his family line specifically, the story focusing on Moses and Aaron and Miriam. Israel is seen not as a person, Jacob, but a people, numerous. There were more of them than of the Egyptian people themselves, which I find interesting. All of society’s production was because of the Israelite slaves, and not only did they (Egypt) lose their workers, but the plagues destroyed their crops, cattle, ecosystems, and family structures. It left the Egyptians impoverished. They even gave away their treasures to Israel, something prophesied to Abraham back before Isaac even came into being.

Prophesy is meant to inform God’s intention of the future. Sometimes, it is clearcut, the image painted of a definite happening. Often, it requires men to seek God and listen. When Abraham received the word about his descendants, he didn’t have a son. He was too old, and his wife was barren. He was destined to give his millions to Eliezar of Damascus. But God said no and took him outdoors to see the stars, proclaiming his children would be as numerous and the land he stood on would go to their generations. When Abraham asked about this, God instructed him to make a specific sacrifice. Modern Americans do not understand sacrifices. It’s more than fitting an extra seat at the table. It isn’t making convenient an inconvenience or accommodating something that isn’t planned. The Word of God says we are to become living sacrifices. This is the laying down of our all on the altar with no intent to use it for ourselves. What you sacrifice is dead and cannot live again. No animal laid on the altar got back up and went to the field. It was dead. Not one drop of its blood was lifted from the altar or where it’d soaked into the ground. That animal gave its life entirely so that the one who offered it could be free of the ramifications of his or her bad behavior. And that freedom came because God, who was offered the sacrifice, accepted it in exchange.

"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." (Romans 12:1)

Abraham offered a sacrifice of two female animals, a heifer and a she-goat, a ram (mentioned centrally), and two birds, one the lesser of the other. He split the larger animals in half and laid them on the ground. He laid the birds before them, whole. And he waited. He waited through the heat of the day. He drove off vultures that came to consume what must have given a ripe smell, and he fell into a vision of great darkness. 400 years of darkness that would afflict the children of the son he didn’t yet have. Then there in the darkness appeared a smoking furnace and a burning lamp that passed between the animal pieces, and the Lord made covenant with Abraham again.

“And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.” (Genesis 15:13-14)

The smoking furnace consumed the animal sacrifice. As fire fell from heaven on Elijah’s altar and consumed it and licked up all the water, the Spirit of God consumed the animals Abraham offered in an instant. And then the light of God shone amidst the darkness, a prophetic picture fulfilled in the people of Israel’s deliverance and later, in the coming of Jesus Christ. “The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up (Matthew 4:16)” (Also Isaiah 9:2) Abraham, given the prophesy of His descendants, offered the sacrifice that would deliver them from Egypt. Abraham, given instruction to sacrifice his son, Isaac, performed the covenant act that would cause the reciprocal sacrifice that would save the entire world. There, behind him, caught in the thicket was a ram. And that ram, the Son of God, would fulfill the Laws set down by Moses on Mt. Sinai, but unlike animal sacrifices, His body laid in the grave, would not stay dead, and His blood shed on the altar would be lifted, every drop, and placed in heaven, where it ever-liveth.

God gives prophecy to men to bring hope and to cause them to seek His face. We do not merely hear, as Abraham did not merely listen. He worshipped and obeyed. We worship the Prophet, Jesus Christ, the King of kings, and we obey through prayer, through love of one another, inside and out of the church, through moral confidence. We stand where asked to stand, knowing God is on our side. But we do so, sometimes with no fanfare. Abraham sat in the heat with the sacrifice, chasing away vultures. But his obedience caused Israel to leave slavery with all the wealth of Egypt, not a one sick or feeble, not an animal lost among them. Generations later, they would enter the Promised Land and inherit what is today modern Israel, (Not Palestine. God loves all men of all races and cultures. But Jesus is a Jew, a son of Abraham) because Abraham obeyed, and God declared him righteous. Even the work of God written in John 3:16 could only come about because he chose faith, and his faith is now this far-reaching.

Ours is built upon the apostles and the prophets who went before us, who spoke God’s words and acted upon them, not seeing the fulness of what they described to us, but deserving today of our faith that these events, set in motion by the Holy Spirit will come to fruition in us. In a nation, prophesied on the shores of Virginia. In a church created to display the fullness of Jesus Christ. A man foreordained before the foundation of the world to save it, though that would require humans to trust Him in times when they had little to no understanding of His coming to earth, His death upon it, nor His great and glorious Resurrection. He would come, and He would save His creation. He did come, and we are given eternal life. But here again, it requires something of us. Belief. And that belief alters our behavior, changes our reactions to the future, and creates of us, stronger, healthier people, led by the God, who spoke to Abraham one day in a land owned by Kenites and Kenizzites, and Kadmonites. Abraham owned a lot but not the land, now Abraham’s descendants own the land, and their King reigns over the entire earth. Whether men believe in Him or not. But in believing, if they are believing, they become part of us, grafted into the tree, as we were, as living stones, not inert. Active. Moving, breathing, evidence of a God greater than all whose will is done through men.

“As it is written, ‘I have made you the father of many nations.’ Abraham acted in faith when he stood in the presence of God, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence things that don't yet exist.” (Romans 4:17 ISV)

Egyptian Image by Oberholster Venita from Pixabay
Cross Image by DONGHWAN KIM from Pixabay


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Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com