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Abraham: Called to Wrestle
Thus far—in our study of the life of Abraham, we have watched as God called this man out of a life of affluence and comfort to a life of wandering, worship, witness, warfare, and waiting—with each calling being accompanied by a new or expanded revelation of God’s plans for Abraham, and followed by a period during which Abraham’s stewardship of that revelation was tested. In most instances, his success rate was much like those that we experience in our own walks of faith—more often than not, a case of one step forward and two steps backward. However, there have been some exceptions to this pattern—such as in Genesis 14 when Abraham…
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Abraham: Called to Renewal
In our last episode—Episode #4 of Biopic #1 on the life of Abraham—we learned that following a life-altering, covenant-making encounter with God, when challenged by the Silence of God test, Abram failed miserably. Instead of taking God at His Word and waiting for Him to fulfill His promises, he gave into the temptation of trying to solve a spiritual challenge through the use of his own human reasoning and fleshly works. Just as Adam had done when he was tested in the Garden of Eden, Abram forfeited his position of Headship when confronted by the Influence Power of his wife and with equally disastrous results. Here, just as in…
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Abraham: Called to Wait
Last time, in Episode #3 of Biopic #1, we learned about Abram’s latest encounter with God. It came on the heels of his victory over the four Kings from Mesopotamia, his meeting with Melchizedek, and the temptation presented to him by the King of Sodom. During this encounter, God expanded upon His revelation to Abram, revealing to him for the first time that he would father a son of his own. Emphasis was placed on the fact that, at this promise of a Son, Abram believed God and his faith was credited to him as righteousness. At the time, God also reaffirmed His promise that Abram’s descendants would inherit the…
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Abraham: Called to Wed
When we left Abraham at the end of Episode #2, he had just returned from the daring and successful rescue of his nephew, Lot, along with the other inhabitants of Sodom and the surrounding cities. But before he could return the captives and the loot taken in the raid, he was met by Melchizedek—the Priest and King of Salem—with whom he shared communion and to whom he gave tithes from the spoils of that war. As a result of this worshipful encounter, when he was offered the recovered loot by the King of Sodom, Abram was fully prepared to turn it down, choosing instead to maintain his integrity and witness…
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Abraham: Called to Warfare
For those of you who are joining us for the first time, we are currently engaged in a study of the Bible, being presented here in the form of a two-act play which we’ve entitled, God’s One Big Story. In Act 1, Scene 1, we covered Genesis 1-11—the Overture to our story—and now, in Act 1, Scene 2, we are studying the lives of the Four Patriarchs found in Genesis 12-50. They are Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph, the four men most responsible for the birth and development of Israel—the nation who would one day become the Wife of Jehovah and the one through whom Jesus Christ would later come…