Thirteen years passed from the end of Genesis 16 to the
beginning of Genesis 17, just about the same amount of time that elapsed since
Genesis 12 when they started walking with God on this journey. It seems that Sarai had no more bright ideas
about how to solve the problem of a child in those years. Here, God re-announces the covenant of
children and land with the 99 year old Abram and changes his name to Abraham,
father of many of many nations. What must
the man have thought when he heard this again at his advanced age. Perhaps he simply heard, “Yada, yada, yada.” Did he even share this conversation with his
wife who was surely tired of hearing him talk about this whole idea and who had
given up on this promise? The only
addition here is the commandment regarding circumcision of children. Did Abraham continue to believe this would
actually happen?
The leaders are saying, just tell us if you are the
Messiah. Show us something that will let
us know. Jesus offers various proofs
like the works, the testimony of the Father, John the Baptist’s testimony,
Scriptures, and Moses. In each case,
Jesus says that they don’t listen to the witnesses for one reason or
another. In His words concerning the
Father Jesus says they have never heard His voice or seen His form and that the
words don’t abide in them because if indeed the word was abiding in them they
would recognize Jesus, the embodiment of the Word of God. To say to a group of Jews that they don’t
believe the words of Moses and the proof of that is that they don’t believe
Jesus would have been an incredible affront.
Belief requires a step of choosing to believe based on the available evidence
and walking in that belief.
Does God desire sacrifice or holiness? Jesus came to do God’s will. The sacrifices offered for sin, bulls, goats,
sheep, pigeons, etc. never produced a people who were holy. Jesus’ sacrifice makes possible something
entirely new, a people for whom the law is internal because of the giving of
the Holy Spirit. Our righteousness is to
exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees because we know what righteousness
means at a different level. In the old
covenant, circumcision was initiation into the covenant but then you were to be
taught the law until you knew it well enough to pass it on to others. Jesus, however, said that knowing the words
and knowing the author aren’t the same. The
law was to lead us to knowledge of God and to life according to that knowledge
but we settle for external observance and never truly grow into the likeness of
God. Righteousness is something beyond
keeping the rules and regulations.
When through fiery
trials thy pathways shall lie,
My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply;
The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design
Thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine.
My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply;
The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design
Thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine.
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