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The title of this devotion may mislead you into believing that this is a story
of Mary and Joseph, of the three Magi, and of the shepherds “keeping watch
over their flocks by night;” and though the story bears a direct link to
that grand event, it is based in a period far removed in years – around 2000 BC!
The Ancient Christmas Promise begins with a childless woman being told by an
Angel of God that she will bear a child – even though the woman was barren!
When she objects such a feat would be impossible, just as did the Virgin
Mary, the Angel asks, Is any thing too hard for the LORD? (Gen
18:14)
This answer is so very much like the answer the Angel Gabriel gave to Mary when
she, too, questioned the possibility of a virgin bearing a child: For with
God nothing shall be impossible. (Luke
1:37)
Of course, you have discovered I am speaking Sarah, Abraham’s wife. But the
fullness of God’s purpose in providing an example and shadow of His only
Begotten Son in the story of Abraham, Sarah, and Isaac is beyond question. In fact,
it is confirmed by our Lord Jesus Christ!
When we consider the fullness of intrigue and scintillating ‘coincidences’ of
the two accounts, we are drawn into wondrous awe of God’s perfect hand and
operation in history. We have now endured two thousand years from the time of
the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ at Bethlehem. Looking back over that misty
period of history, the books are literally filled with wars, diseases, plagues,
and other catastrophes. But we see sprinkled across those same annals of
history the testimonies of great men and women of God who served to awaken the
Church to the clarion call of God to obedience and faith. Some were great
military and political leaders who staunched the spread of Islam into Europe
and Russia. Some were exiled from a wealthy and powerful church for simply
preaching the truth. Others were burned at the stake rather than to recant that
truth of the Gospels.
But let us travel back to the beginning of that two thousand-year-period since
the coming of Christ. How could such a momentous event occur while men slept?
Why were we not alerted to His Coming which served to divide all Eternity in
two parts – Before, and After? Well, we WERE so informed of the coming event in
amazing abundance. Not only did the prophets tell us outright, but we have
amazing examples from the Law and the Prophets (of which Jesus remarked) as our
Lamp of Understanding. We have the prophetic example of our ancient parents in
Eden when sin was discovered in their rebellious hearts: I will put enmity
between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise
thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. (Gen 3:15) This is a
direct prophecy of the role of the coming Messiah in Christ. But more than words,
God gave us a real, visible example for the necessity of a Redeemer. 21 Unto
Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed
them.
(Gen 3:21) When I
behold the natural beauty of the living creatures God has made, I am bewildered
that man could so thoughtlessly disregard the commandment to have dominion over
them in kindness and in love for that which God has made.
But Adam’s sin resulted in the first death of a living creature that God had
created to be a joy to man on earth. But more, the sin of Adam has resulted in
EVERY death upon the earth since. Imagine the compassionate heart of God being
compelled by love of men to take the life of a beautiful and innocent animal to
provide cover for the sin and nakedness of Adam and Eve! Please consider with
deep sensitivity the sorrow God felt in taking that life, and more, how it
reflected the sacrifice of another beloved Life near and dear to the Father at
Calvary’s brooding brow! The first man, Adam, was a ‘living’ soul; but the last
Adam was a ‘quickening spirit” (Life Giver). For as in Adam all die,
even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own
order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming.
(1 Cor 15:22-23) Christ is
the first man of the New Creation having redeemed us with His own blood.
As time endured through the ages, man became so vile and depraved that God saw
every imagination of his heart was of evil. In His foreordained will and knowledge,
God is never surprised at the rebellious nature innate to the heart of man. But
He uses history itself to teach us of our own total dependence upon Him. God
sent the Deluge to destroy all living upon the face of the earth except for
those eight souls, and creatures, aboard the Ark of Noah. Now man will come to
know that he cannot be ruled by his private desires – he requires law for his
own wellbeing.
Enter a pagan fellow of Ur of the Chaldees named Abram. Abram did not prepare
in any seminary to be accounted worthy of the calling of God. He may have never
even considered the God called Yahweh. But when God called Abram to leave house
and home in Ur and travel to an unknown place, Abram followed, just as did
Andrew, Peter, James, John, and Matthew without uttering a question or an
objection. That, my friends, is the calling of God – not of MAN! Abram, like
the rest of us, was not a perfect man; and he often suffered for his
shortcomings. But Abram believed God and was persistent in that faith. He was
quite easily induced by Sarah to have a child by way of an ungodly union with
Hagar. The fruit of that union of convenience (Ishmael) has led to a singular
INCONVENIENCE for modern civilization by way of the Moslem horde. But God had
promised Abraham that he would become the father of many nations – so many as
the sand of the sea. Abraham, by faith, believed that Promise without the
slightest doubt. Why? Because it was the Word of God to Abraham! Would it not
give great peace and blessing to the modern Christian if he so believed God as
did Abraham?
Well, God often comes to us as a breeze upon silken curtains. As Abraham was
sitting in his tent door one day upon the Plains of Mamre, Three Angels
appeared walking out of the desert wilderness. The drama of the moment may not
arise to that of the very well-rehearsed smoke and mirrors of a Joel Osteen ‘celebration’
but the difference was its authenticity. Abraham recognized these Three as
divine, else he would never have knelt before them. 2 And
he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he
saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the
ground, 3 And said,
My Lord, if now I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee,
from thy servant. (Gen 18:1-3) Please
note the Lord did not feel it necessary to introduce Himself to Abraham since a
devout and Godly man will recognize the Lord when he hears His voice, as well
as know the false voices of the wicked.
Among other important matters, one of the Angels made the Promise of a child
for Sarah. Sarah is 90 years old. It is physically impossible for a 90 year-old
woman to conceive and bear a child. Sarah KNEW this as well. She laughed at
such a preposterous proposition. But the Angel reprimanded her. A miraculous
conception was promised to Sarah just as it was to Mary. The child that Sarah
would have (Isaac) would be the example of that Promised Seed of Abraham. The
manner of conception is not stated in Scripture, but needless to say, the child
was given as promised, and Isaac became the pride and joy of Father Abraham. He
was the only begotten child of Abraham because he was the only legitimately
granted child of Abraham. Years passed and the lad grew both in stature and in
the love and admiration of the father.
When Isaac grew to be a young boy of perhaps twelve years age, a strange and
seemingly tragic event occurred. God spoke to Abraham and said: Abraham,
Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the
land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the
mountains which I will tell thee of. (Gen
22:2)
How sorrowful these words may have sounded on the ears of a father who was
obsessed with love for his son. But, remember, Abraham trusted God. The command
of God in this case must have sounded very similar to that first time Abraham
had heard the voice of God in Ur. Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and
from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew
thee. (Gen 12:1) What had
been Abram’s response in that olden day? So Abram departed, as the LORD had
spoken unto him. (Gen 12:4) What is Abraham’s response now that he
is told to sacrifice his only son? 3 And
Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his
young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt
offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him. (Gen 22:3) One of the
amazing characteristics of Abraham was his unquestioning faith and obedience to
the Lord.
As Abraham traveled three days on the journey, he lifted up his eyes and saw
Mount Moriah. Abraham instantly knew this was the place. It was the same mount
upon which the Temple at Jerusalem stands and the same upon which – two
thousand years later – our Lord was sacrificed. You know already the rest of
the story: 6 And Abraham
took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he
took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together. 7 And Isaac
spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my
son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a
burnt offering? (Gen 22:6-7) Just as
our Lord bore on His shoulders the wood for His sacrifice, so did Isaac (being
a type and figure of Christ) bear the wood for his sacrifice on his shoulders.
To his child-like and heart-breaking inquiry, Abraham replied: My son, God
will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. (Gen
22:8)
Yes, indeed! God certainly would provide Himself to be the Lamb of sacrifice.
You can only get the depth of this meaning in the Received Text Bibles. The new
marvels of deception will not render it. So God would not require the sacrifice
of any man’s son for sin, but only His own only Begotten and Beloved Son.
That event was two thousand years BEFORE Christ. We live in the age two
thousand years AFTER. Time has mirrored itself in a marvelous way to our
generation. God is calling His own Abrahams today.
Will
you hear?
Can
you see the Christmas story acted out two thousand years before the actual
event?
