Genesis 12:1 Now the LORD had said to Abram: "Get out of your country, From your family And from your father's house, To a land that I will show you. 2 I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." 4 So Abram departed as the LORD had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram [was] seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 5 Then Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother's son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they departed to go to the land of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan.
On the strength of a word of blessing from God, Abram moved. No holy scriptures to depend upon, it was a word from God and it was enough; Abram obeyed God. Abel heard a word from God and obeyed, Noah heard a word from God and obeyed, can you see the great pattern of hearing the word believing the word and moving into action?
Genesis 12:6 Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, as far as the terebinth tree of Moreh. And the Canaanites [were] then in the land. 7 Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, "To your descendants I will give this land." And there he built an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him. 8 And he moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent [with] Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; there he built an altar to the LORD and called on the name of the LORD.
Abram built an altar in Shechem when God appeared to him and affirmed His word. Then Abram moves to Bethel (The house of God). Again, Abram built an altar. Abram had a lifestyle of building altars when he heard from God. The saints of God will do well to build an altar of worship whenever they hear God speak. We often gather together in the house of worship but leave without making connection at the altar of worship. Can we learn of the patriarch of faith? His story is written for our benefit.
Genesis 15:7 Then He said to him, "I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit it." 8 And he said, "Lord GOD, how shall I know that I will inherit it?" 9 So He said to him, "Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon." 10 Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, down the middle, and placed each piece opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds in two. 11 And when the vultures came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.
The altar of worship is a great place to lose the doubts and fears that arise by the circumstances of life. Abram had questions and God commanded him to build an altar. Sometimes we must guard the sacrifice that is on the altar. For us it is always The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. The vultures may want to pick at your sacrifice and cause you to put your faith in your own doings but let the object of your faith every remain in Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Run the vultures off the altar of your worship to your God.
Genesis 15:12 Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, horror and great darkness fell upon him. 13 Then He said to Abram: "Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. 14 "And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions. 15 "Now as for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age. 16 "But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete." 17 And it came to pass, when the sun went down and it was dark, that behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a burning torch that passed between those pieces. 18 On the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying: "To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates—
Abram built the altar and God spoke a word of covenant. When righteous men built altars of worship to God, God made covenant or reaffirmed and brought clarity to the covenant. God gave a prophetic utterance as to what would happen to a nation not yet created in very specific terms. God Himself came and passed between the pieces of the sacrifice and consumed the sacrifice with smoking oven and a burning torch from heaven.
Genesis 22:1 Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am." 2 Then He said, "Take now your son, your only [son] Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you." 3 So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.
Abraham's life was filled with hearing from God and obeying. Yet there came an hour of testing! Testing time is the most important time to build an altar. Abraham prepared to go and worship!
Genesis 22:4 Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off. 5 And Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you." 6 So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid [it] on Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went together. 7 But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, "My father!" And he said, "Here I am, my son." Then he said, "Look, the fire and the wood, but where [is] the lamb for a burnt offering?" 8 And Abraham said, "My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering." So the two of them went together.
Abraham spoke faith filled words at the time of testing “the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you”! How many times have we shut down the blessing of God because of what we put in our mouth in the hour of testing resisting the promise of God in our life? Isaac asked Abraham where is the burnt offering? Abraham’s words remained faith filled. “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering”
Genesis 22:9 Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. 10 And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the Angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" So he said, "Here I am." 12 And He said, "Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only [son], from Me."
The promised son was not withheld from God. Abraham built an altar and put all on the altar! Is your all on the altar? Abraham passed the test and the best of God’s became Abraham’s. God spared not His Son… I jump ahead.
Genesis 22:13 Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind [him was] a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 And Abraham called the name of the place, The-LORD-Will-Provide; as it is said [to] this day, "In the Mount of the LORD it shall be provided." 15 Then the Angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, 16 and said: "By Myself I have sworn, says the LORD, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only [son]—
At the altar a fresh revelation of God came! Jehovah Yireh; the Lord Will Provide! What a revelation God has provided for Himself a sacrifice. God swore an oath by all that God was and is!
Genesis 22:17 "blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which [is] on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. 18 "In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice." 19 So Abraham returned to his young men, and they rose and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba.
Abraham heard the word of blessing and he went in dwelt at Beersheba. Beersheba means a well of oath; Abraham lived in such a way that he would be reminded of the promises of God.
John 3:15 "that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. 16 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. 18 "He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
The God of oath, the covenant keeper, spared not His Own Son so we could come to eternal life. He who has the Son has life. Abraham giving his son was but a shadow and a pattern that is fulfilled in what God the Father has done with the sacrifice of His Own! Hallelujah what a Savior.
James 2:23 NKJV - And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness." And he was called the friend of God.
Building an altar was Abraham’s lifestyle. He believed God and lived by what he believed. Abraham was the friend of God.
Jesus is the faithful God
God is good all the time!
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