Romans 4:12 KJV And the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet uncircumcised.
Apostolic minister Kelley Varner mentioned the interpretation of a thought that I long knew something was there for us to understand today in a book he wrote entitled, WHOSE RIGHT IT IS.
I feel that everytime we see a series of SEVEN, we are to think of progress towards a completion.
Hebrews 4 said there remains a rest to the people of God.
These are CHOICES of Abraham.
CHOICE NUMBER 1 - OUT OF THY COUNTRY. Genesis 12:1 KJV Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: Comparing these seven choices with Genesis, we see that God spoke LIGHT into existence in DAY ONE, separating Light from darkness. Genesis 1:3-4 KJV And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. (4) And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
Some people think they require a supernatural experience before they will repent, as though they cannot repent any old time they wish, since they feel God only confirms their chance to repent and have Him hear them if he does something supernatural to them.
It is like coming out of your country.
Jesus' first words on the cross were: 1) Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. (Luke 23:34) YOU REPENT!
Concerning the light and the darkness, repentance is represented by the Exodus, when Israel was taken out of Egypt after the lamb's blood saved them, and THEY WERE SEPARATED FROM THE ARMIES OF EGYPT BY LIGHT AND DARKNESS. Exodus 14:19-20 KJV And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them: (20) And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these: so that the one came not near the other all the night. LIGHT AND DARKNESS SEPARATED! Your SINS are represented by the ARMIES OF EGYPT that tortured the Israelites like slaves.
And an ALTAR followed this experience.... Genesis 12:7 KJV And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the LORD, who appeared unto him. CHOICE NUMBER 2 - OUT OF YOUR FAMILY. Genesis 12:1 KJV Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: Genesis 1:6 KJV And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. WATERS depict people in the Bible. Revelation 17:15 KJV And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. When you repent, you leave the membership to one family and take the FAMILY NAME of another new one!
Watch the similarity of words: After the light and darkness was separated, we read: Exodus 14:21 KJV And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. Genesis 1:6 KJV And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. God takes those sins he separated and WASHES THEM AWAY, Acts 22:16 KJV And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord. The soldiers, who were divided into darkness from the light of Israel, are then drowned and washed away. Exodus 14:27-28 KJV And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it; and the LORD overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. (28) And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained not so much as one of them. BAPTISM is done in JESUS' NAME because you get involved with the CHURCH and A NEW NAME OF JESUS is put on your life.
Ephesians 5:23 KJV For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. Ephesians 5:25-27 KJV Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; (26) That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. This is speaking about water baptism.
GET AWAY FROM YOUR FAMILY, ABRAHAM.
2) Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise. (Luke 23:43) PARADISE IS "EDEN" in Genesis.
CHOICE NUMBER 3 - LEAVE EGYPT. Genesis 13:1 KJV And Abram went up out of Egypt, he, and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the south. Abraham lied to Pharaoh here about HIS WIFE.
The issue regarded trouble around Abraham's WIFE.
The third element listed in Acts 2:38, after repentance and water baptism, is HOLY GHOST BAPTISM. Acts 2:38 KJV Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. The third thing in Genesis... LIFE: Genesis 1:10-11 KJV And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good. And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. The bible speaks of "THE LAND of EGYPT."
Egypt is a LAND of slavery and death.
The CHURCH is the bride and is so vitally important in your life.
Abraham disregarded proper acknowledgment of his WIFE. Hebrews 10:24-25 KJV And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: (25) Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. It is seeing ONE ANOTHER and considering ONE ANOTHER.
SPIRIT BAPTIZES YOU INTO A BODY. 1 Corinthians 12:13-14 KJV For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. (14) For the body is not one member, but many. You are not to consider yourself in a SINGULAR sense.
THE LADY must be properly understood.
Jesus' third word from the cross... He told John BEHOLD THY MOTHER! 3) Woman, behold thy son! [And to the disciple] behold thy mother! (John 19:26-27) After this, Abram went to the ALTAR again. Genesis 13:4 KJV Unto the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first: and there Abram called on the name of the LORD. FOURTH CHOICE: LEAVE LOT Genesis 13:11 KJV Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan; and Lot journeyed east: and they separated themselves the one from the other. DAY THREE: Genesis 1:14-16 KJV And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: (15) And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. (16) And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. LOT represents carnal Christians who come to church just to come to church.
BUT AFTER LOT LEFT, GOD SPOKE AGAIN! Genesis 13:14 KJV And the LORD said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: Genesis 13:18 KJV Then Abram removed his tent, and came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there an altar unto the LORD. Christians are supposed to be the LIGHT OF THE WORLD.
Christ's fourth statement on the cross: 4) My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? (Matthew 27:46) He was FORSAKEN so you would be ACCEPTED. IN THE BODY. Ephesians 1:6 KJV To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. JESUS is the beloved.
FIFTH CHOICE: LEAVE TREASURES OF THIS WORLD Genesis 14:21-24 KJV And the king of Sodom said unto Abram, Give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself. (22) And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lift up mine hand unto the LORD, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth, (23) That I will not take from a thread even to a shoelatchet, and that I will not take any thing that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich: (24) Save only that which the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men which went with me, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; let them take their portion. FIFTH DAY: Genesis 1:20 KJV And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. Abraham would not be bought by the king of Sodom.
2 Corinthians 3:5 KJV Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; 2 Corinthians 9:8 KJV And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work: I recall being called to the ministry and abandoning a pursuit into computer processing in the seventies.
Genesis 15:1 KJV After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward. FIFTH STATEMENT OF JESUS ON THE CROSS: 5) I thirst. (John 19:28) Waters brought forth LIFE in fifth day.
John 4:13-14 KJV Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: (14) But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. The world's well does not give life.
Be sufficient IN GOD!
SIXTH CHOICE: LEAVE ISHMAEL Genesis 17:18 KJV And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee! Abraham LONGED for his own flesh and blood son to be accepted before God!
Isaac was born by this time.
Genesis 1:27 KJV So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. ISHMAEL is a man, but NOT God's image.
The sixth thing Jesus said on the cross was: 6) It is finished. (John 19:30) God finished the work when He made Adam.
Speaking of Ishmael, Genesis 16:12 KJV And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren. True Christian lives in God's image are not carnal and wild like Ishmael. SEVENTH DECISION: LEAVE ISAAC ON ALTAR Genesis 22:1-2 KJV And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. (2) And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of. This parallels the cross so much! Genesis 2:1-2 KJV Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. (2) And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. Notice God RESTED IN this seventh of the days. Abraham was tested in ultimate testing that day.
Seventh thing Jesus said on the cross: 7) Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. (Luke 23:46) REST IN GOD!
This is true Christianity for which all of us were saved. WORSHIP in the purest sense. Genesis 22:12 KJV And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me. NOW I KNOW.
No more tests.
THE CROSS. Genesis 22:4 KJV Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off. You really see the SACRIFICE OF JESUS in this and you repeat it and TRULY become ONE with it! Do we want THE GIFT MORE THAN THE GIVER?
Hebrews 11:17-19 KJV By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, (18) Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: (19) Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.
Romans 8:18 KJV For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. Jesus CRIED and gave up the Ghost.
LOSE LIFE FOR MY SAKE = sacrifice FIND IT = resurrection. |