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Some notes from the 2017 Bible conference
Turning Points: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob
January 7, 2017
First study - Abraham: Hearing God's voice | Second study - Isaac: Looking for water
Third study - Jacob: Wrestling with God


First Bible study - Abraham: Hearing God's voice |
Study 2: Isaac | Study 3: Jacob      Top
Genesis 12:1-8; 15:1-6
Joshua 24:14-15
Acts 7:2-5; Hebrews 11:8-10

The Christian life is a process of growth, and this takes place little by little, almost unnoticeably. But there are also occasions of sudden change, when a statement of truth or a guiding principle is understood in a new and important way. These are "turning point" moments. We can look back and realize that significant changes took place which affected the whole course of our life's journey.

This conference will focus on Abram (later called Abraham), Isaac, and Jacob, three Old Testament patriarchs who each had their own turning points. As God's people, we all need these turning points ourselves.

The book of Genesis can be divided into two parts. The first 11 chapters present four great events: creation, the fall, the flood, and the development of the nations. Then chapters 12-50 present four great people: Abram, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. Chapter 12 shows that God is starting something new by calling a specific person for a particular purpose.

It's very significant that Abram heard God's voice. The calling of God and our response to His call is an important theme throughout the Bible.

Both parts of Genesis start with God speaking (in chapters 1 and 12). The enemy always questions what God says. We have to trust God and use our brains, but the enemy wants us to trust our brains and then use God for our own purposes.

Abram left three things: his country, his kindred, and his father's house. These can be considered the influences of the political, social, and family circles. For Christians, God changes our nationality, making us citizens of heaven; He gives us new associations; and He provides a spiritual family.

Abram responded in faith. He was willing to leave behind natural ties and comforts. In fact, all of Abram's trials were connected in some way with natural relationships.

The passage in Joshua 24 refers to the gods which the ancestors of Israel had worshiped on the other side of "the River" in Mesopotamia. Some translations say "the Flood," and this does not refer to the time of Noah but rather to the great river Euphrates. When Abram left his country and family, he evidently was leaving a life of idol worship.

It did not take long for people to forget God. After Noah's time, it was only four generations, about 100 years, until the people wanted to build a tower to heaven and make a name for themselves (in the days of Peleg the land was divided, Genesis 10:25; compare with Genesis 11:16). They had no desire to honor God. Then it was only another 125 years or so until Abram was born into a land filled with other gods. He lived in a pluralistic society that promoted any beliefs you might like, just as society does today. But Abram heard God's voice and saw the "God of glory" (Acts 7:2), and this drew him away from those idols. There is a Jewish tradition that Abram's father was a craftsman who made some of those idols and statues. The tradition says that Abram destroyed all of them but one, and when his father asked what happened, he replied that the one remaining statue had broken all the others. "That's ridiculous," his father said, "for they are not alive!" Abram answered, "Then why do you worship them?"

We have the natural experience of differentiating ourselves from our parents. Further, Abram was growing in his understanding of God's ways. The verse in Acts 7:2 shows that God had already called Abram before he lived in Haran. Then, after he lived for a time in Haran, God called him again after the death of his father (Genesis 12).

God promised blessing to Abram. The people who built the tower of Babel wanted to make their own name great; but God promised to bless Abram with a great name. It's similar to the way that the disciple Matthew in the New Testament became attracted to the Lord. He was detached from his old way of life (the tax collection business) and was attached to Jesus.

Mesopotamia was a great civilization. There was intellect, art, innovation, and city life. Abram was not leaving some little village; there was every attraction for him in Mesopotamia. And when he left, he didn't even know the land where he was going yet, according to Hebrews 11:8. However, he set out for the land of Canaan, and into the land of Canaan he came. He was not content to stop until he reached the place of obedience. Faith in God means we believe that we should act on what He has said; faith always implies obedience.

In Abram's life we see God's sovereignty as He selected and called Abram; God's providence as He overrules in Abram's failures; and God's grace as He gives a blessing to Abram and his family.

Abram was a pilgrim as he traveled to Canaan. Once there, he became a priest as he built an altar and offered a sacrifice. He could not build the altar in Haran. We must be pilgrims, leaving this world behind, before we offer a sacrifice to God. For the most part, the saints in Genesis build altars, not towers and cities.

Abram was also a soul-winner. There was an entourage that traveled with him from Haran to Canaan; he gathered the people that had become attached to him and took them along to the promised land. He was looking for God's city, even at the age of 75 (perhaps considered his middle-age years, since he lived to be 175).

This turning point is not just emphasized for young people or for some particular elite class. We all must grow in our appreciation of the Lord. When Abram built his first altar, it was to "the Lord who had appeared to him." With the second altar, he also called on the name of the Lord. These could be linked with the "holy priests" and "royal priests" of 1 Peter 2. Further, the second altar was the altar of relationship. God not only appeared to Abram but also wanted to have a relationship of fellowship with him.

The Canaanites were already in the land God promised to Abram. Even though they are there, Abram declares it is God's land. He calls the place Bethel, the "house of God," (12:8). And he keeps Bethel on one side of his dwelling place, even though Ai (perhaps meaning "a heap of ruins") is on the other side.

Then, in chapter 15, Abram learns by experience that God keeps His promises. Abram refuses to take riches from the king of Sodom; as a result, God appears to him again and affirms, "I am your shield and your exceedingly great reward." The Lord gives victory in battle, and the Lord Himself is the reward Abram can delight in.

Abram expects God to fulfill His promises even though he is puzzled by the delay while waiting for a son. Yet God repeats the promise of chapter 12 and even expands it; and then Abram's faith in God is credited to him as an act of righteousness.

The test of waiting is very challenging. We live in a world of instant everything! We must rehearse the promises that God has made and expect that He will follow through. We learn to trust Him while we are waiting.

Abram saw the God of glory; then he saw the land of promise. What would he do when he did not yet see the son God had promised? He would have to trust in God's word. Do we trust what God says in the Scriptures? If so, do we want to learn more about them? Abram believed, and the Canaanites took notice. They called him a "mighty prince" (Genesis 23:6). By contrast, Lot moved to Sodom, and they called him a joker (Genesis 19:14).

There were tests of faith throughout Abram's life, but he remained faithful because he already knew the deep value of God's word and the high glory of God Himself.


Second Bible study - Isaac: Looking for water |
Study 1: Abraham | Study 3: Jacob      Top
Genesis 26:12-33
Ephesians 1:1-7; 5:15-17

The Bible records much less detail about Isaac's life than about the other patriarchs. We know that he was married at the age of 40; he had children at the age of 60. His sons were already somewhat independent by the end of Genesis 25, so in Genesis 26 we would assume Isaac is already 75 or 80 years old, and perhaps even older. Despite living in tents like his father Abraham, he has not really distinguished himself by any great acts of faith.

However, in Genesis 26 we find what might be considered the spiritual high point of Isaac's life. For Isaac, it all starts with seeking water. He dug several wells of water despite interference from the Philistine nation. There are spiritual lesson in that search for water; and there are also lessons in the fact that we have to live wisely in this world while surrounded by enemies of God. The passages in Ephesians also help to develop these lessons.

In life it is always necessary to have fresh determination for yourself. There is no "succession of exercise," no inherited trait of faithfulness. It wasn't enough for Isaac simply to be Jacob's son; instead, he himself had to have a vision of God and then choose to walk in God's path.

Isaac was living in Gerar, a Philistine city. God told him to stay there instead of going down to Egypt. Isaac had some failures while in Gerar, but in this passage he did know what to do with seeds: He planted them! We might get discouraged or confused by life or by failures, but at least we can do what is good with the things that are right in front of us.

It is good to see that the Lord had promised blessing to Isaac earlier in the chapter, and so He indeed blessed him despite Isaac's deceitful failure. God is faithful even when we fail.

There was a good harvest, which could have meant a comfortable life. But Isaac recognized that this was not enough. There needed to be wells of water if he would be really satisfied. Wells are self-sustaining supplies of water, and so we can compare them to the heavenly supplies of God's blessings. Earthly success will not really satisfy us, and Isaac understands that.

When we realize that Isaac was already well-advanced in his age, we understand that many mature Christians still need to learn Isaac's lessons, too. We sometimes think these lessons are mostly for young people. But how many middle-aged Christians are quite content with their good jobs, their luxurious homes, their lavish vacations, without giving even a thought to advancing in spiritual things!

Isaac's father Jacob had already dug some wells in this region, but the Philistines had filled them with earth. We understand the Philistines to represent "earthly religion"-- people who follow religious traditions without really knowing God themselves.

  • They were living in the land that God had promised to Abraham, but they had taken a sort of short-cut to get there. "The way of the Philistines" was a known travel route from Egypt into Canaan, and it simply went along the Mediterranean Sea as a quick and easy route.
  • By contrast, the people of Israel later passed through the Red Sea, across the desert, and over the Jordan River. Theirs was the path of depending on God and learning the lessons connected with those places. The Philistines claimed the land was theirs without taking God's way to get there.

As a result, the Philistines are constant enemies. They take away the wells; they envy Isaac. Only in the time of King David are they finally subdued.

It doesn't even make sense that they would stop up the wells. They could have benefitted from the water! It was just out of spite and jealousy, which is what "religion" does when it does not appreciate Christ. We could say Isaac represents the risen Christ because Abraham had offered him to God, and God accepted Abraham's act of faith as if he had killed Isaac and seen him risen from the dead (although God had provided a substitute for Isaac instead, Genesis 22).

The Philistines often pretend to make things comfortable but then want to take control. They sharpened the Israelites' farming tools in the time of King Saul, but then there Israel had no swords or spears when it came time for battle (1 Samuel 13:20-22). In addition, when the Lord began to use Samson against the Philistines, the people of Israel actually told Samson to leave the Philistines alone, even though they were the enemy (Judges 15:11)!

When Isaac resisted the Philistines, he did so by digging out the wells his father had dug. He called them the same names. There are many great truths for us to dig out of the word of God, like what it means to be saved, to be forgiven, to be justified by God. We need to dig these things out for ourselves, like the blessings mentioned in Ephesians 1. And this is the benefit of understanding historical, orthodox Christianity-- "the faith once delivered to the saints," as Jude wrote in the New Testament.

In the time of Jesus there were Pharisees, leaders who emphasized traditions over truth. That is like how the Philistines behaved. In our days this is also a danger.

The appetite of Christians for these truths has changed over time. In the 1970's, many Christian bookstores and publishers sprang up in response to the "Jesus movement" when many were hungry for biblical teaching. But as Christian literature became more mainstream, a desire for greater commercial success took hold.

As Isaac dug new wells, the Philistines continued to cause difficulty. Twice Isaac simply abandoned those wells. "The servant of the Lord must not strive" (2 Timothy 2:24), and if a desire to find blessing in a certain well turns out to stir up strife instead, we can just leave that with the Lord. Also, this shows that Isaac was willing to call sin "sin." If it's a quarrel, call it a quarrel, not something else.

Gerar, the location of all these wells, was occupied by the Philistines. According to Genesis 26:3, it was part of the land God intended to give Isaac's descendants. The Philstines occupied it even though they had no right to it. On the other hand, we also realize that as Isaac heads east, away from the Philistines and back towards the places his father had first lived, he grows in his appreciation of God's plans for him. Wells are dug without strife. Then Isaac builds an altar to God-- the first and only time we read of him doing this.

We live in a world that requires heavenly wisdom because the days are evil, as we are taught in Ephesians 5:15-17. Isaac does not assimilate with the Philistines; instead, he moves away from them and even rebukes them for their selfish and dishonest ways. This is one of the strongest, most determined actions we see in Isaac's life.

God appears to him and affirms His presence in Isaac's life. Finally Isaac reaches the place he calls Beersheba, a name which might mean "the well of satisfaction" or "the well of seven." There is complete contentment near this well, which can represent a Christian's life when we are finally satisfied simply with the Lord. As one hymn writer put it, "Jesus, Thou art enough the mind and heart to fill."


Third Bible study - Jacob: Wrestling with God |
Study 1: Abraham | Study 2: Isaac      Top
Genesis 32:1-12, 22-32
Philippians 3:1-4

We have seen that Abram responded to God's call and Isaac dug out God's blessings for himself. When we come to Jacob, we find a self-made man who knows that God is there but feels no need to depend on Him.

This chapter takes place after Jacob has had many successes in life through his own schemes. In the opening verses he is met by the angels of God, who he recognizes as "God's host" or "God's camp." Yet he names the place Mahanaim, which means "two camps." It's as if he sees God's host as one group and his own caravan as another group on equal footing. Jacob is a man with a high opinion of himself.

The text says (verse 1) that he went on his way. This is different from the faithful servant who said, "I was in the way, and the Lord led me" (Genesis 24:27).

Now he is about to meet his brother Esau, and this stirred up fear in Jacob. Years before he had deceived his brother and taken the birthright blessing (Genesis 25). Esau was responsible for not appreciating his birthright, but Jacob was responsible for his deception. His conscience has not forgotten the wrong that he did.

There's nothing like trouble to focus the mind. Now Jacob prays, and this seems to be the first time he has prayed since he left home in chapter 28. In a prophetic sense, Jacob represents the future nation of Israel as they will be confronted by their past sins. In a personal sense, Jacob shows us that God often uses difficulties to turn our attentions to Him. It's when the airplane hits some turbulent air that the passengers start to read the safety information card!

When Jacob prayed, it is at least good that he was not a hypocrite. He called on the God of his fathers but did not pretend he really knew God himself. He did remember God's promises, and this at least is positive.

That prayer would have been a nice occasion for God to say "Fear not" to Jacob. Both Abram and Isaac heard a "Fear not" from the Lord (Genesis 15:1, 26:24). But in his prayer, Jacob only wants to tell God what to do, and therefore there is no response until he is left entirely alone and God begins to wrestle with him.

It's insightful to realize that Jacob did not quite remember God's promise correctly. Jacob remembered the promise this way: "I will do you good." But the Lord had really said, "I will be with you" (Genesis 31:3). Jacob expected God's goodness in his life, but it's really a relationship with us that is most important to God.

Abram and Isaac had faced external enemies. The enemy that Jacob faced was Jacob. His problem was himself!

Jacob had no peace with God, only fear. It's possible that even the messengers he sent to Esau tasted the same fear, for they came back with the report of Esau's caravan without ever saying that they even spoke to Esau.

Jacob was born wrestling! Even as a baby, he had grabbed his twin brother's heel at the moment of birth. If Jacob is a wrestler, then God will appear to him as a wrestler. God is gracious to us this way! Abrahm was a pilgrim in the land, so God appeared to him as a traveler as well (Genesis 18); Joshua was a military man, so God appeared to him as the captain of the army of the Lord (Joshua 5). The Lord knows what kind of lesson and message will speak to us the most forcefully.

What is perhaps the most amazing is Jacob's willingness to keep wrestling all night. The Lord saw that Jacob was not willing to yield. This represents Jacob's dissatisfaction with God. Finally, the Lord touched Jacob's hip socket, and instantly his hip went out of joint. Now Jacob must cling to this divine Wrestler instead. God's merciful discipline has taught Jacob the lesson of dependence.

Jacob was too stubborn to stop wrestling, but God was so interested in Jacob that He would not stop wrestling either.

Jacob was always observant of people's faces. He wanted people to be pleased with him and knew it when they weren't (compare Laban's face in Genesis 31:2, Esau's face in 32:20). If we want to be accepted by everyone, we will be erratic and unstable. What Jacob really needed was to see the face of God, and after this wrestling experience he realizes that's exactly what has happened. Trials allow us a place to grow in our relationship with the Lord.

There had been a sunset at Bethel, the "house of God," in Genesis 28:11. Now there is sunrise at Peniel (Penuel), the "face of God." It's as if Jacob has lived all these years in a dark, night time of life.

At the end of the wrestling, Jacob had asked God for a blessing. God asked him, "What is your name?"-- not because God didn't know his name, but because the last time Jacob heard that question, he pretended to be someone else. God deals with the past sins before giving a blessing in the present.

However, desiring God's blessing implies a humble attitude from Jacob. "The less is blessed by the better" (Hebrews 7:7). The lesson of humility is so important that Jacob's descendants memorialized this event. They refused to eat meat that came from an animal's hip socket. This is an illustration of practicing self-denial. There was no commandment to avoid that cut of meat, but the people chose to live without eating it as a way to keep this lesson in their minds.

This tradition implies that Jacob told his familiy about what had happened. As we follow his life in subsequent chapters, we see that there were still twists and turns in his faithfulness and integrity. Philippians 3:3 says that we must have no confidence in the flesh. Our natural self-will, represented often by that word "flesh," is a constant enemy. Even the apostle Paul had to receive "a thorn in the flesh" so that he would not become boastful (2 Corinthians 12:7). Jacob was still Jacob! Yet he became a worshipper at the very end of his life (Hebrews 11:21).

God's blessing for Jacob includes a new name, which implies that he has a new character. Yet he limped on his thigh the rest of his life, and this illustrates that the strength of his new character was related to remembering the lesson of the weakness of his old self.

Jacob endured a long period of darkness in his life. How long will we allow darkness to continue in our lives? God is intent on bringing us back to Himself, and as we repent and cling to Him we meet the God who loves to bless us.

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This third Bible study was followed by a time for additional Bible teaching. Notes from this message follow.
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Abraham and Christ

As we consider these turning points today, we can find another of Abraham's turning points in Genesis 22. It is also connected with a turning point in Simon Peter's life. Simon's new name comes when he confesses that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. God's Church will be built upon what he has confessed, for Peter wrote that we come to Jesus as coming to a living stone, and we are built upon Him (1 Peter 2:4-8).

There is a link here with Abraham's sacrifice in Genesis 22. He obeyed God when he was sent to an unnamed mountain in the land of Moriah, and his willingness even to sacrifice his son Isaac shows his faith in resurrection (he knew Isaac would return from the place of sacrifice).

The link continues into the days of David, who built the temple in the same area of Moriah. Imagine: The temple was built where the father offered the son in the place where there was a belief in the God of resurrection.

This is precisely how the Church was indeed formed. On the day of Pentecost, the Spirit of God came upon those who believed in the Son and His resurrection, and they were formed into a dwelling place for God here on earth.

As a side note, today in Jerusalem the "Dome of the Rock" stands on that site. It is an Islamic holy site, and the rock is said to be significant to the Islamic prophet Mohammed. The Jews say that this exact rock is the temple's foundation stone. Some even call it "the pierced stone." Arabic words on that stone declare that Allah has no son, which reveals the enmity against even a picture of Christ, who is God's foundation stone in the Church. But God will have the victory in the end when Christ comes to rule!

Coming back to Abraham, we see that he displayed faith when he did what God said. Faith always involves obedience: God said something, and now I will act on it. We might yet have much of Jacob's ways in us, but we can press on as we seek to live by faith. God will continue to work in our lives for our blessing and His glory.


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