24 Bought with a Price

The Redemptive Promise

The Abrahamic Covenant is a story of personal redemption. God revealed Himself to a man who was trapped in the bondage of service to other gods. Remember that the cult of Nimrod gave birth to the idolatry that Abram grew up in. At the tower of Bab-El, Nimrod attempted to establish a portal where heaven and earth could once again be merged into one. This was the source of all 'mystery religions' of which Abram and his family were once steeped in

God countered satan's domain when He showed Abram the coming kingdom in which both heaven and earth would once again be merged. This encounter with the one true God led Abram to turn to God from idols. Abram trusted God to change Abram, the childless shepherd, to Abraham the father of many nations. It would be through this new creation that the promised seed of the woman would come.  

By faith, Abram had the righteous nature of God added to his account. This righteousness is an 'alien' nature that progressively defers to the advantage of others regardless of any disadvantage to himself.

I hope that there is a sense of awe and wonderment toward our God as we see the redemptive nature of the Abrahamic Covenant. Some see the pagan roots of our yearly celebrations and take exception to them. When I first awakened to the pagan symbols that are all around us, I also took exception to their use in Christian celebrations. 

Yet as I have come to greater appreciation of the redemptive power of God in our world, I also can see them as a rebuke to the demonic realm...even as Abram's salvation from paganism demonstrates. 

For instance, the Christmas celebrations are a time of year that we celebrate God’s intervention in this world to redeem the world from its idolatry. Even as Abram was redeemed out of the midst of idolatry, our celebration of the unknown date of Christ's birth turns the pagan festival of saturnalia into a remembrance celebration of Christ’s birth. 

The pagan symbols intended to glorify satan are transformed into a memorial of God's redemptive power in Christ Jesus. The tree itself that was once a memorial to Tammuz, now becomes a memorial of Christ's rejection and His sacrificial death. The star on top of that tree reminds us of that supernatural beacon announcing His birth and guiding the wise men from the east to offer their gifts in worship of the promised King. 

The ornaments on the tree remind us of the gracious words that adorned the life of the King in His first appearance as God's Lamb. Those that heard Him speak “... wondered at the gracious words that proceeded out of His mouth”. They declared, “never a man spake like this man”. These reminders of grace even adorn His sacrificial death when in the midst of unbelievable agony He repeatedly spoke the words, 'Father forgive them for they know not what they do" 

The gifts laid at the base of the tree remind us of the power of His resurrection and ascension to glory whereby He gave gifts unto men. These gifts of redemption and transformation are given to every individual soul that embraces Christ as the Redeemer from their sin. 

While it is possible to use pagan symbolism and celebrations to declare the redemptive work of Christ, for many faithful, it is just a bridge too far. If it is a cause of stumbling another, then it is best to avoid them.The choice to avoid these celebrations altogether or to redeem them should be respected.

"Hast thou faith? have [it] to thyself before God. Happy [is] he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth." - Rom 14:22 KJV

The Blood Covenant

Abram's redemption brought him a new nature that God can work with. God tells Satan, I have found a man from your own domain that I have made my own. I am going to bless him and I am going to claim a piece of land from your domain that I am going to give him and to his descendants. I will make as numerous as the stars of heaven and from them I am going to bless the whole world of mankind by the seed of the woman that will come from him….and by the way, no matter how hard you try, satan, there is nothing that you can do to stop it.

God gave Abram very clear and special promises. Not only does God give those promises by His unfailing Word, but He confirms them with an oath. Because God could swear by no greater, He swore an oath to Himself that He would fulfill them or cease to exist. Since God cannot lie and God cannot die, this covenant with Abram and his descendants is as sure as the eternality of God Himself.

Professor Arnold Fruchtenbaum in his study on Genesis states the following:

“The nature of a blood covenant is spelled out in Jeremiah 34:8–11 and 17–20. A blood covenant pledged the lives of the ones making the covenant to the covenant: If one failed, his blood was to be poured out just as the blood of the animal had been poured out. In other words, he would invoke upon himself the death penalty. The animal sacrificed was the substitute in death for the two making the covenant. Once the covenant was made and once both parties walked between the pieces of the animal, the terms of the covenant could not be changed.”

Dr. Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum; The Book of Genesis, 279-80

With that reality in mind, we can state with great confidence that the present salvation that is offered through our Lord Jesus is an eternal salvation. The blood that He shed at Calvary establishes an everlasting covenant:

"Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom [be] glory for ever and ever. Amen."

Hebrews 13:20-21 KJV

The new covenant that established this salvation is not based on human merit and it is not kept by human merit. It is entirely dependent upon the goodness and faithfulness of God.

A Practical Consideration

So we cannot claim that God is done with Israel and at the same time hold to the eternal security of the believer. By the same reasoning, if we deny the eternal security of the believer, we are denying that God will one future day declare that He has set His King upon His holy hill in Zion (Psalm 2:6). Such a theology effectively calls God a liar. 

Under this popular theology, God cannot be trusted to keep His promises. Rather than disciplining disobedient heirs of His promises, He simply abandons them and revokes His covenants with them. This is a hopeless theology that the devil delights to promote.

Worship of the true God is a response to God's truth, it cannot be a denial of God's truth. For many religious people this requires a paradigm shift in their thinking. The blood of Jesus Christ must be seen for its eternal value as payment for sin, rather than a temporal tragedy inflicted on a societal reformer.

Bought with a Price

The prophet Jeremiah laments the affliction of Israel in a day of God's discipline upon them. It describes the agony of heart, mind and body that they were experiencing.  Moreover, his lamentations anticipate a future day when the Lord Jesus took upon Himself, not only Israel's affliction for sin, but also the sin of the whole world.

"[Is it] nothing to you, all ye that pass by? behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the LORD hath afflicted [me] in the day of his fierce anger." 

Lamentations 1:12 KJV

Is it nothing to you?

smc

23 His Oath, His Covenant and His Blood

There are events in each of our lives that are pivotal moments. These are those 'what if' moments where we make decisions that eliminate some outcomes and lead us to new outcomes.

"What if" I would have married my childhood sweetheart? What if I would have joined the military instead of joining the Peace Corps? "What if" I had continued to ignore the gospel call to be saved? "What if" my birth parents would have chosen to have me killed in my mother's womb instead of bravely given me up for adoption?

While each of these decisions had a profound impact on the trajectory of my life, none of these decisions would have had the slightest impact on world history.

Yet as far as Abram's experience, as a man of wealth he would make many decisions every day that would have an impact on the lives and the families of those that he interacted with. Yet there was no decision so impactful as his decision to turn to God from idols.

'What if' Abram had ignored God's call upon his life? The name Abraham from Ur of the Chaldees would have been lost in obscurity. He would have died a wealthy, childless shepherd. Certainly God would have found someone else. 

However, his decision to believe God was so extraordinary that it is not an overstatement to say that all of world history centers on this one decision of Abram.

We are never told what disillusionments or tragic events led Abram to re-evaluate his position in light of eternity. We know that his older brother Haran died and this passed the inheritance of the first born down to Abram. 

Their father Terah's wealth would have likely been attributed to their faithfulness to the gods of the Chaldees. Yet the price of that allegiance would most certainly have involved some degree of human sacrifice. More than likely this would have meant sacrificing a human infant, someone's child, in the fires of Molech.

One wonders if Abram's molested conscience led him to seek answers outside of such demonic portals. Whatever, the reason, Abram's encounter with God did take place outside of these evil contrivances. 

He was made to see the eternal God, (Genesis 12:7; 17:1) an eternal Kingdom (Hebrews 11:8-10) and an eternal Savior-King. (John 8:56) He was caused to fear the loss of these more than his ingrained fear of the Chaldean deities.

To the reader of this post: Whatever chance occurrence may have led you here, consider how in the ordinariness of life we give scant consideration as to how our decisions have any eternal impact. 

Yet think of how impactful your decision to either embrace or ignore God's revelation of Himself to you may be. The pages of our Bible reveal God's eternal purpose to restore His creation back to the Kingdom of God for which it was intended.

Each of us must decide whether the opportunities of this world can compare with the opportunity to become an heir of God's Kingdom. It all hinges on your choice to trust in the eternal God's eternal goodness or deny it all in favor of the deceitful gods of this world.

When I write here of God's eternal goodness, I am speaking of an unconditional promise of eternal life. That is, it's fulfillment depends entirely on God rather than on us. All that we are required to do is trust Him to fulfill what He has promised.

Abram was given unconditional guarantees of land, seed, blessing. As evidence of their unconditional quality, we see that the promises are restated even with Abram’s partial obedience. 

"And there was a famine in the land: and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there; for the famine [was] grievous in the land." 

Genesis 12:10 KJV

Abram had been promised all of the land in Canaan and yet he journeyed into Egypt fearful of his livelihood in Canaan. Fearful for his life in Egypt, he and Sarai conspired to lie to Pharaoh by telling him that Sarai was his sister.

God proved the unconditional nature of his promises to Abram by preventing Pharaoh from taking Sarai into his harem. This led to their expulsion from Egypt and they returned back to Bethel where Abram had made his first altar unto the Lord.

This is the drawing power of the Holy Spirit and the evidence of the Divine Nature that He imparts to the believer. Even when we walk in unbelief and fear, God does not fail to keep us. Pharaoh's rebuke and expulsion of Abram and his family from Egypt served to teach Abram and Sarai of God's faithfulness. 

Have you ever been rebuked by an unbeliever and it caused you to return to God’s Word? Although painful and embarrassing, it is oddly assuring of the friendship that God condescends to grant those who come to trust in Him. 

"Open rebuke [is] better than secret love. Faithful [are] the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy [are] deceitful." Proverbs 27:5-6

It was after their return to Bethel and back to the promised land that the unconditional nature of the covenant was confirmed. The seed of Abram's faith germinated upon their return to the land. Yet God recognized the frailty of faith that is enticed out of the satanic religious systems of this world. 

Condescending to human weakness, God went beyond the sufficiency of His Word in which He could not lie.  He gave the greatest assurance possible to Abram by performing the blood covenant of the ancient near east. 

"Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed [it] by an oath: That by two immutable things, in which [it was] impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:" 

Hebrews 6:17-18 KJV

This custom left no uncertainty as to the commitment of the promisor. (i.e. the one making the promise) By passing between the animals that were cut in half, the promisor is graphically stating that if he fails to fulfill his oath, then he must be slain and divided as these animals are.

Abram's offering from the flocks acknowledged that all that Abram had rightly belonged to God. Beyond this, the deep sleep that God imposed upon Abram kept Abram from participating in this covenant ratification ceremony. It's fulfillment would be guaranteed entirely of God.

God' commitment to the covenant is amplified by the oven and torch emblems. These illustrated His future dealing with the descendants of Abram. His presence in the midst of His people would be evident in both the furnace of affliction as well as their restoration from darkness. 

The promised seed of the woman would one day appear from Abram's descendants. That chosen nation would become that torch of God's light beckoning every other nation to come and see the salvation of the Lord. That salvation would come through one whose blood must be shed as payment for sin. The efficacy of this sacrifice is confirmed by His resurrection from among the dead.

The presence of the church today temporarily fulfills that role to which Israel was called. In this present age, the King of Israel is in exile and the appearance of His Kingdom is postponed, but not cancelled. The Kings presence in His church now serves to provoke Israel to jealousy through her temporary fulfillment of Israel's role.

"I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but [rather] through their fall salvation [is come] unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy." 

Romans 11:11 KJV

Summary:

God's authority over satan is demonstrated by snatching out one from satan’s dominion and single him out for blessing. Abraham’s character was developed by God to be a channel for blessing to others in need. God chose Abram to be the source of blessing to all of the nations by challenging satan’s authority over those nations.

The Divine Nature (righteousness) was given to Abram when he believed. God's commitment to restore His Kingdom through Abram's descendants is confirmed in the ancient near east covenant ratification ceremony. 

It shows us that God’s unconditional promise of land, seed and blessing is God's desire for all men everywhere to enjoy. In this way, Abraham becomes the father of faith to all who likewise believe. 

smc