01 Nov 2023 At Any Cost
-
- Politics
Transcript
This transcript:
Was machine generated.Has not been checked for errors.May not be entirely accurate.
This recording constitutes a section of my class on Genesis.
I began teaching the class before COVID caused any number of problems, of which we are all well aware.
At any rate, this recording is meant to be both standalone as an exegesis of a section of Genesis 12, and as an accompaniment to an episode of the Stone Choir podcast, one that will be released, incidentally, the same day as this recording.
It will be in the show notes for that episode.
The topic of that episode is dispensationalism, which is why this particular section of Genesis is relevant.
The section of Genesis that I will be exegeting in this recording is the beginning of Genesis 12, and I will start by reading that section.
It's just one paragraph.
Now, the Lord said to Abram, Go from your country, and your kindred, and your father's house, to the land that I will show you.
And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse.
And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.
For this recording, I will be focusing on verses 2 and 3, and so not the first verse about Abram leaving his country and his kindred, and going to a land that God would give to him or to his descendants more accurately.
Although this does not come through particularly well in English, there are seven blessings or promises here.
The first, God will make him a great nation.
The second, God will bless him.
The third, God will make for him a great name.
The fourth, he will be a blessing to others.
The fifth, he will bless those, that is, God will bless those who bless him.
The sixth, God will curse those who dishonor him.
The seventh, all nations will be blessed in him.
Now, this is an expansive set of promises, and we should spend some time unpacking them.
So we will go in order.
First, great nation.
Of this promise, Luther contends that not only is it gospel, and so it is, but that it is also a most outstanding passage and one of the most important in all Holy Scripture.
I would recommend you highlight or underline it unless you refuse to write in your Bible, which I do with most of mine.
Again from Luther.
First of all, you should consider that what the Lord promises Abraham here is altogether impossible, unbelievable, and untrue if you follow reason, because it cannot be seen.
If the Lord has something like this in mind for Abraham, why does he not let him remain in his land and with his kindred, where Abraham undoubtedly had some influence or reputation?
Is the way to success easier among strange people, where one does not even have a place to set one's foot, than at home, where one's fields, friends, neighbors, and relatives are, where one's household has been well established?
Therefore the power of the Holy Spirit was great and extraordinary in Abraham, because he was able to apprehend with his heart these impossible, unbelievable, and incomprehensible things, as though they were real and already present.
Such must have been the case, especially since he was already approaching old age, for he was seventy-five years old, but Sarah was ten years younger, and barren at that.
The second blessing, I will bless you.
We would do well to interpret this promise as applying both to Abraham and to his offspring.
But who were the offspring of Abraham?
From Romans 9, But it is not as though the word of God has failed, for not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham, because they are his offspring, but through Isaac shall your offspring be named.
This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise who are counted as offspring.
To some degree, this promise was fulfilled to Abraham personally, for
Transcript
This transcript:
Was machine generated.Has not been checked for errors.May not be entirely accurate.
This recording constitutes a section of my class on Genesis.
I began teaching the class before COVID caused any number of problems, of which we are all well aware.
At any rate, this recording is meant to be both standalone as an exegesis of a section of Genesis 12, and as an accompaniment to an episode of the Stone Choir podcast, one that will be released, incidentally, the same day as this recording.
It will be in the show notes for that episode.
The topic of that episode is dispensationalism, which is why this particular section of Genesis is relevant.
The section of Genesis that I will be exegeting in this recording is the beginning of Genesis 12, and I will start by reading that section.
It's just one paragraph.
Now, the Lord said to Abram, Go from your country, and your kindred, and your father's house, to the land that I will show you.
And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse.
And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.
For this recording, I will be focusing on verses 2 and 3, and so not the first verse about Abram leaving his country and his kindred, and going to a land that God would give to him or to his descendants more accurately.
Although this does not come through particularly well in English, there are seven blessings or promises here.
The first, God will make him a great nation.
The second, God will bless him.
The third, God will make for him a great name.
The fourth, he will be a blessing to others.
The fifth, he will bless those, that is, God will bless those who bless him.
The sixth, God will curse those who dishonor him.
The seventh, all nations will be blessed in him.
Now, this is an expansive set of promises, and we should spend some time unpacking them.
So we will go in order.
First, great nation.
Of this promise, Luther contends that not only is it gospel, and so it is, but that it is also a most outstanding passage and one of the most important in all Holy Scripture.
I would recommend you highlight or underline it unless you refuse to write in your Bible, which I do with most of mine.
Again from Luther.
First of all, you should consider that what the Lord promises Abraham here is altogether impossible, unbelievable, and untrue if you follow reason, because it cannot be seen.
If the Lord has something like this in mind for Abraham, why does he not let him remain in his land and with his kindred, where Abraham undoubtedly had some influence or reputation?
Is the way to success easier among strange people, where one does not even have a place to set one's foot, than at home, where one's fields, friends, neighbors, and relatives are, where one's household has been well established?
Therefore the power of the Holy Spirit was great and extraordinary in Abraham, because he was able to apprehend with his heart these impossible, unbelievable, and incomprehensible things, as though they were real and already present.
Such must have been the case, especially since he was already approaching old age, for he was seventy-five years old, but Sarah was ten years younger, and barren at that.
The second blessing, I will bless you.
We would do well to interpret this promise as applying both to Abraham and to his offspring.
But who were the offspring of Abraham?
From Romans 9, But it is not as though the word of God has failed, for not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham, because they are his offspring, but through Isaac shall your offspring be named.
This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise who are counted as offspring.
To some degree, this promise was fulfilled to Abraham personally, for