Tag: Abraham

EL Roi- The God Who Sees Me

God promised Abraham and Sarah a child at their old age. However, Sarah did not believe it and anxiously suggested to her husband her plan, saying, “See here, the Lord has restrained me from bearing children. I am asking you to have intercourse with my maid; it may be that I can obtain children by her; Abraham listened to and heeded what Sarai said.”  (Gen.16:2). This was definitely a plan outside God’s will and it carried consequences for years to come. Sarah had no idea that what she was suggesting didn’t only affect her, but the world.  Today, the world pays for the consequences of that decision with no end in sight.  Rivalry, jealousy, anger, wars, etc. It has shaped the world in direction to its destruction. That reminds me of another woman (Eve) who brought the entire world to fall into sin and lose its relationship with the Creator God.

Hagar, an Egyptian woman, Sarai’s maid was brought into the picture at the request of her mistress. She submitted to the idea and became pregnant. However, when she saw that she was with child, she looked with contempt upon her mistress and despised her. That displeased Sarai and she said to Abraham. “May my wrong and deprivation of rights be upon you! I gave my maid into your bosom, and when she saw that she was with child, I was contemptible and despised in her eyes. May the Lord be the judge between you and me” (Gen.16). Here we have a story hard to understand due to its custom and culture. Sarai sent her away while she was still pregnant; She dealt severely with Hagar, humbling and afflicting her. So, Hagar fled from her to a wilderness. But the Angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness on the road to Shur. (Gen. 16: 5-7). He promised her to multiply her descendants exceedingly and He called (the baby in her womb), Ishmail [God hears].  So, she called the name of the Lord Who spoke to her, “You are a God of seeing.”  Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore Ishmael. Abram was eighty-six years old (Gen. 16).

The story of Hagar is filled with conflict. She was a suffering woman, who met God. As the Lord promised Hagar, out of that experience, a nation was to be born.  EL ROI – the God Who sees me was the name Hagar gave to God, when they were sent away at the time Ishmael, then thirteen years old mocked Isaac at an important celebration when Isaac was weaned.  He showed his true personality then.  Sarah told Abram to cast out the bondservant and her son, for her son shall not be an heir with my son Isaac. Abram rose early in the morning and took bead and a bottle of water and gave them to Hagar, putting them on her shoulder, and he sent her and the youth away. And she wandered on and lost her way in the wilderness of Beersheba. When the water in the bottle was all gone, Hagar caused the youth to lie down under one of the shrubs; she sat down opposite him a good way off, about a bowshot, for she said, Let me no see the death of the lad. And as she sat down opposite him, he lifted up his voice and wept and she raised her voice and wept. And God heard the voice of the youth, and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven and said, to her, What troubles you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the youth where he is…Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water; and she went and filled the bottle with water and caused the youth to drink. And God was with the youth and he developed; and dwelt in the wilderness and became an archer. (Gen21). And the story continues for centuries till the end, for they will be part of the end time in God’s plans for the Arab nations. As it was for Hagar, so will be for all of them, when they will realize that EL-Roi is the God Who sees, the only true God.

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Behold, I Tell You a Mystery

(a secret truth, an event decreed by the hidden purpose or counsel of God) (The Amplified Bible)

It was in the Garden that sin demonstrated itself with changes that affected the entire world. A special place where God would come to fellowship with our forefathers, became then a place where judgment was decreed, bringing to it a heavy atmosphere from then on. The serpent, Adam and Eve stood before God listening to their fate as a result of what they did. In Adam’s and Eve’s physical shame God provided for them a covering from long coats of skins and clothed them. (Gen. 3: 21). This is very significant in the fact that God’s Son came many years past as the “Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world” (John 1: 29).  Amazing love was displayed for the human being amidst their disobedience. God’s plan of redemption was visible, when He provided “long coats of skin” to cover Adam’s and Eve’s nudity. Means of protection under the sovereignty of God. Because of men’s rebellion against Him, the world was judged by means of water, and now waits for its judgment through fire. However, God has provided a way for their salvation through the death of His Son to redeem those who will accept Him.

In the space of time, God called Abraam to picture His future salvation, by telling him to sacrifice his son- the son of the promise. In Genesis twenty-two we read the story: [God] said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac… whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering upon one of the mountains of which I will I will tell you. On the third day of their trip to the mountain, Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. Abrham took the wood for the burnt offering, and laid it on Isaac his son and he took the fire in his own hand and a knife and the two of them went on together. And Isaac said to Abraham. My father! And he said, Here I am, my son. Isaac said, see here are the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the sacrifice?” Abraham said, “My son, God Himself will provide a lamb for the burnt offering. So, the two went on together” (Gen. 2: 22).

Abraham’s heart was touched by what God asked him to do, but at the same time, he believed in the resurrection of his son, due to God’s promise that Isaac was the son of the promise. He was blessed at the end of his ordeal for his obedience and the Lord God said, In blessing I will bless you and in multiplying I will multiply your descendants like the sand on the seashore. And your Seed (YAHSHUA) will possess the gate of His enemies. And in your Seed (YAHSHUA) shall all the nations of the earth be blessed and by Him bless themselves; because you have heard and obeyed My voice (Gen.22). Here, my friend is the introduction of God’s eternal salvation demonstrated by Abraham’s and his son’s obedience. Abraham represented God the Father and Isaac God the Son. That was the place chosen for the sacrifice of God’s Son in a distant future. The region of Moriah is of great historical significance for the world.  YAHSHUA didn’t stay in that tomb, but He arose on the third day. Paul says He is the first fruit of all those who died in Him, in the first resurrection. Because He lives, we shall live also. YAHSHUA’S resurrection guarantees our resurrection. In its order, YAHSHUA’S first and then we believers.  His resurrection is the cornerstone of our faith.  Without it, in vain is our faith, as Paul has emphasized. “And if Christ has not risen, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is devoid of truth and is fruitless” (I Cor. 15:13-14).   In speaking of resurrection, Paul then said, “Take notice! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all asleep [in death]. But we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet call. For a trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable.” (I Cor. 15:51-52). Do we have any idea how fast that is?  

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The Valley, a Place for Relationship with God

In the silence of a valley of suffering the mind brings circumstances we face with anxiety fear and worries. Long nights, as if there was no day around the corner, we submerge in the solicitude of our thoughts. A prayer is directed to God with questions without answers. Alone we remain in doubt, without faith to alleviate the pain, bringing hope for that moment in the valley. God’s promises sound clearly, but His voice overtaken by anxiety, we cannot hear. God, where are you? I then lift up my eyes and see Him suffering my pains in a horrible cross, body covered with blood disfigured beyond recognition. Then I realized, no, I am not alone, He is suffering with me here in this valley so deep.  He Said, “the reproaches and abuses of those who reproached and abused you fell on Me” (Rom.15:4).  There are many patriarchs that walked the valley of life before their deaths. I think Job, a righteous man, who loved God and walked in His ways, suffered the worst valley one would do. Job, lost everything, family riches, he was left with poor friendships, who served to accuse him. Body filled with sores, still did not curse His God, even when suggested by his wife. At the end of his ordeal, Job, when facing God, repenting, said, “I had heard of You [only] by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You; therefore, I loathe [my words] and abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42: 5-6).

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A Moabite Woman Who Would Not Give Up

In those days when the judges ruled the nation of Israel, there was a famine in the land. (Ruth 1:1a). Elimelech, his wife Naomi and family moved to Moab at that time. However, their future became uncertain with the death of Elimelech and his two sons, who were married to Moabite women named Orpha, and Ruth.  Naomi decided to move back to Israel with her two daughters-in-law. However, she insisted on them staying, but as she was leaving, they wept aloud; Orpha, one of the sisters, kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her. She said, urge me not to leave you or to turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people and your God my God (Ruth 1). Ruth’s decision to leave everything behind, including her gods, family to follow the God of Naomi and her people was an attitude of sacrificial love. This action was prophetic in itself of a beautiful future. A future so special, she never dreamed of. Descendent of Lot, Abraham’s nephew, from a nation with an embarrassing beginning, nonetheless, God had a future and a hope for Ruth in a far and distant future, although she would not have a chance experience the excitement of it. Ruth was a chosen one unknown to her. She was both a widow and an alien, touching the heart of God. With courage and determination, she entered an unfamiliar territory, where a Moabite was not looked at with favor. But she performed all that her mother-in-law suggested her to do in that foreign land.  Strong physically and emotionally, Ruth remained faithful to the end. Where she was gleaning was in the field of Naomi’s husband kin, Boaz.

Naomi stayed behind the scene teaching Ruth how to behave in that culture, not knowing how she was being used to bring about God’s plan for Ruth’s life, a plan in which Naomi would be part of.  She would no longer be alone. Her life would be filled with joy in the fulfillment of God’s plan for Ruth, whose life was an ordinary life with an extraordinary future ahead of her. Ruth was in the right place in the space of the right time for all to happen as God planed.  She had to be willing to leave behind all that was important to her, including her religion and her family. YAHSHUA said, Truly, I tell you, there is no one who has given up and left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for My sake and for the Gospel’s  who will not receive a hundred times as much now in this time- houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecution – and in the age to come, eternal life (Mar. 10:29-30). Although, Ruth did not have in mind this concept YAHSHUA presented, she took a path of obedience for God to fulfill His plan through her. In spite of being a foreigner, she was respected for her act of compassion toward her Jewish mother-in-law Naomi. When the time came for her to marry Boaz, the people rejoiced with her and Naomi, saying, May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your house like Rachael and Leah, the two who built the household of Israel. May you do worthily and get wealth in Ephratah and be famous in Bethlehem, (prophetically of YAHSHUA) and let your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, because of the offspring which the Lord will give you by this young woman (Ruth 4:11-12). Ruth’s future as well as Naomi’s took root in these prophetic words uttered by the people which took thousands of years for its fulfillment, while generations multiplied. God, however, in His appointed time brought all to fulfillment.

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Mount Moriah, A Holy Site

“After these events, God tested and proved Abraham and said to him, Abraham! And he said, Here I am. [God] said, Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love and go to the region of Moriah; and offer him there as a burnt offering upon one of the mountains of which I will tell you…On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance, and he said to his servants, Settle down and stay here with the donkey, and I and he young man will go yonder and worship and come again to you. Then Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering, and laid it on [the shoulders of] Isaac his son, and he took the fire in his own hand and a knife; and the two of them went on together. And Isaac said to Abraham, My father! And said, See here is the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering? Abraham said, My son, God Himself will provide a lamb for the burnt offering. So, the two went on together.” (Gen. 22:1-2,4-8)

Let’s assume that it was almost dawn when Abraham arrived at the place God ordained him to go. Before him, everything stood clearly. It was as if Abraham was living in the future although, he did not perceive the spiritual meaning of what he was seeing. The place, yes, the place, most definitively was where Adam and Eve stood before the Lord listening to their fate as a consequence of their rebellion against Him, but again, that place was also where God promised them a Redeemer. Many years later, Abraham stood in that place, as he called, “The Lord will provide” with certainty of those words. These were prophetic words the Lord was speaking through Abraham, confirming His promise to Adam many years past. Now, Isaac needed to hear them. His life was at the point of being sacrificed in that mount called, the Mount of the Lord. Even though tied to the altar, Isaac still believed the words, “The Lord will provide a lamb for the sacrifice” on this mount.  Abraham and Isaac could only understand what was happening in their tangible way, but not in the spiritual realm. They could not perceive that in that place, God the Father, God the Son, God the Spirit were standing alongside with them, agreeing that was to be the place His Son was to be sacrificed. Redemption was going to take place where our parents sinned, for it needed washing with the redemptive blood of the Lamb of God; the only blood free from stains of sin; the only blood with the washing power. In fact, in the course of God’s timing, His Son came and was crucified in that place for all to see. And like Abraham and Isaac, people of that time, saw many things that were happening, but they did not perceive their meaning; they did not perceive the anguish of God’s Son in His cry, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? was their cry in hell, because they had rejected the Son of God; they did not know that YAHSHUA was suffering their pain of hell, where the presence of God was completely void. No, they did not, instead, they offered Him vinegar to drink to ease His pain. They did not perceive that the earthquake they felt was the earth responding to the touch of YAHSHUA’S blood when it was shed upon it; that Nature trembled at the touch of the Creator’s blood. Yes, nature did, but men did not.

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Our Ways Are Not God’s Ways – God’s Thoughts Are Not Our Thoughts

(Isaiah 55: 8- 11)

Abraham was seventy-five years old when God called him to leave his country, relatives and his father’s house to a land He was going to show him.  He promised to make a great nation from him and bless him with riches.  Seventy-five in those days was still a young age, relatively speaking, for his father had died at the age of 205.  He had no children at that time, for his wife was barren.  When the Lord appeared to Abraham in a vision a second time, he said to the Lord God, What can You give me, since I am going on childless and he who shall be the owner and heir of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?  Look, You have given me no child; and born in my house is my heir.  Abraham in his human nature is puzzled, not understanding God’s time line for the fulfillment of His promise.  Sixteen years later, God came to Abraham again and this time he made a covenant between Him and Abraham.  This covenant was that Abraham shall be the father of many nations; he probably wondered when, since sixteen years had passed since God had called him out of his land to a new land He was going to give him but his wife still was barren.

When God came to Abraham the last time before his wife conceived, he was at the age one hundred and his wife at ninety years old.  God’s promise of a son became a matter of laughter to both of them.  But God assured them that time that He was going surely to return to them when the season had come round, and behold, Sarah his wife was going to have a son.  The reality to them was that they were now old, well advanced in years; it had ceased to be with Sarah as with women.  Therefore Sarah laughed to herself, saying, After I have become aged shall I have pleasure and delight, my lord being old?  The Lord saw and heard Sarah and said, Is anything too hard or too wonderful for the Lord?  At the appointed time, when the season comes around, I will return to you and Sarah shall have borne a son (Gen.17,18:10-14).  God’s thoughts are not our thoughts; our ways are not His ways!

The Lord visited Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for her as He had promised (Gen. 21:1).  Abraham was one hundred and Sarah ninety years old; but what is it to the Lord, since He is the Creator of life, and He is not in a frame of human time?  He opened the womb of Sarah and what seemed impossible to them and their family, and a matter of laughter, became an expression of God’s power and faithfulness, for there is nothing hard for Him.  His thoughts are not our thoughts; our ways are not His ways.  He could have called someone younger according to our thoughts and reasoning; or He could have given Abraham a son earlier, but how would they have known the depth of God’s power and wisdom in the fulfilling of His promise to them?  In our weakness God’s strength is manifested.  Abraham had to go through a few experiences in life before he would see the reality of the promises.  First he had to believe in the only true God, since he had come from a family of idol worshippers; second, he had to have faith to take the first step in obedience to God.  Faith and obedience were then credited to him, for doing the impossible as far as to obey God in sacrificing his only son as God had asked of him to do.  He had waited for that son twenty-five years.  Now the Lord wanted to take him back.  The depth of his faith went beyond the visible reality; in his faith he obeyed, believing God was going to give him his son back after he had killed him, as we read in Hebrews 11:17-18: By faith Abraham, when he was put to the test, had already brought Isaac for an offering; he who had gladly received all welcomed [God’s] promises was ready to sacrifice his only son, of whom it was said, through Isaac shall your descendant be reckoned, for he reasoned that God was able to raise [him] up even from among the dead.  Indeed in the sense that Isaac was figuratively dead, he did receive him back from the dead.  “God’s thoughts are not our thoughts; our ways are not God’s ways”!

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The Man Abram (part 2)

ANGELS OF MERCY

When Abram stretched out his hand to slay his son, angels of mercy came before the Lord pleading for him and Isaac, saying, O Lord, You are a merciful and compassionate King over all that You have created in heaven and in earth, and You support them all; give therefore ransom and redemption instead to your servant Isaac, and pity and have compassion upon Abraham and Isaac his son, who are this day performing You commands; have You not seen Isaac the son of Abram Your servant is bound down to the slaughter like an animal? Now, therefore let Your pity be roused for them, O Lord.

At that time the Lord appeared to Abram and called him from heaven saying, Lay not your hand upon your son, for now I know that you fear God in performing this act, not withholding your son from Me. Abram lifted up his eyes and behold a ram God had prepared for the sacrifice. Satan, however, kept the ram from coming to Abram. But Abram took hold of the ram and sacrificed it to the Lord. While Abram was engaged in sacrificing the ram to the Lord, Satan went to see Sarah, his wife in the form of an old man. He stirred up her heart’s emotions by telling her the lie that Abram had merciless killed her son. She lifted up her voice and wept and cried bitterly for her son. She threw herself on the ground and cast dust upon her head, weeping saying, O that I had died in your stead; my joy is turned into mourning over you. But I console myself with you, my son, in its being the word of the Lord, you performed the command of your God. She rose up afterward and went looking for Abram till she came to Hebron, inquiring of all that she saw and no one could help her. Satan came to her again in the form of an old man and said to her, I spoke falsely to you, for Abram did not kill his son; he is not dead. Hearing these words, she became extremely excited to the point of her soul leaving her.  She died then without seeing her son alive. When it was all over, Abram returned home and looked for his wife, but he could not find her. After making inquiries about her, he found out she had gone to Hebron; when they got there, they found out that she had died. They wept bitterly over her; Isaac fell upon her face and wept over her, saying, O my mother, my mother, how you left me, and where have you gone? O how, how you have left me! Every one mourned for Sarah for several days a great and heavy mourning. The love of a mother is beyond what one can imagine, but Sarah’s love for her son and vice-versa touches one’s heart deeper than any other human’s love would do. YAHSHUA’S mother suffered greatly the death of her son, as the prophet Simeon warned her saying, Behold, this Child is appointed and destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is spoken against; and a sword will pierce through your own soul also – that the secret thoughts and purposes of many hearts may be brought out and disclosed (Luke 2:34-35).

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The Man Abram (part 1)

Abram, a man after God’s heart, and considered God’s friend, offers a rich history unknown to us found in the ancient non-canonical book of Jasher. Jasher is a wonderful book, covering the history from the time of Adam to Joshua. The book of Jasher is referenced more than one time in the Old Testament: Joshua 10:13: And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the nation took vengeance upon their enemies. Is not this written in the Book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of the heavens and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day; II Samuel 1: 17-18: David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and Jonathan his son, and he commanded to teach it, the lament of the bow, to the Israelites. Behold, it is written in the Book of Jashar (Hebrew for Jasher).

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Faith and Reason- Journey of the Soul

How does one reason God’s way, plan, and His fulfillment? We sinned; He gave us His Son to ransom us from its penalty with His life. While being nailed to the tree, YAHSHUA prayed a prayer of forgiveness for those who were nailing Him to the cross. How can one reason God’s love for us to the point of not only dying in our stead, but wanting us to live in heaven with Him? The soul, in its journey of reason, wonders clueless to the fact that there is no answer to these questions. Reasoning is good for us to understand the whys of the matter, but it takes faith to calm the heart and the mind, when there is no answer to the questions. Our rational conclusions do not always line up with faith, if we so depend on it for our understanding of things. The acceptance of Scripture without regard to reason and logic is a step of faith outside human’s interference.  Faith, true faith, that is, relies on confident expectation. Think, for example, Abraham, who had to wait for twenty-seven years before God fulfilled His promise to him of a son. Not only that, the fact that he and his wife were past the age of childbearing, opened the door to reasoning to step in, as he asked the Lord the question: “After I have become aged shall I have pleasure and delight, my lord, being old also? And shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? And Sarah, who is ninety-nine years old, bear a son?” (Gen. 17:17b). But God is not limited by impossibilities; in fact, nothing is impossible to Him, as He confirmed it to Abraham with these words: Is anything too hard or too wonderful for the Lord? At the appointed time, when the season comes around, I will return to you and Sarah shall have borne a son (vs.14). Here we have God reasoning with Abraham, leading him to apply faith on that which seemed to him unreasonable.

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