In Genesis 20.12 we read of Abraham telling Abimelech of
Sarai, "Besides, she is indeed my sister, the daughter of my father though
not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife." The story of her being his sister is true but
it isn't the whole truth, only a piece of the truth. Convenient, huh? How old would this woman be? She must have been in her sixties at this
time and yet she is beautiful enough that the Pharaoh of Egypt takes her as a
wife. Abraham was treated well for her
sake and was blessed and enriched while he sojourned in Egypt. There will come a time 400 plus years later
when one of his descendants will sojourn there and his family will be treated
well on his account. There will also be
a bit of sleight of hand played there with their identities, "Say you are
shepherds…" Ultimately, however,
Sarai must be protected and the Lord afflicted Pharaoh and his household
because of her and somehow the Pharaoh sorts out the reason and sends the couple
on their way. Later, it will take a good
deal more than whatever affliction happened here to get Pharaoh to allow the
Israelites to leave.
This woman becomes the most successful evangelist we see in
the Gospels. Her testimony is simple,
"Come see a man who told me everything I ever did." The best description of evangelism I have
ever heard is "One beggar telling another where to get bread." We don't have to be able to argue and do
apologetics to be evangelists, we have to do nothing more than tell our own
story and invite others to come and see for themselves. At the end, the people say to the woman that
they believe now because they have come and seen for themselves. They haven't rejected her testimony, it is
now personal knowledge, not second hand.
Because she was at the well at the "wrong" time she made her
divine appointment and her earthly and eternal destiny was changed. What had been a place of pain for her was
transformed to the place she met Messiah and introduced Him to everyone in the
village. Indeed He is greater than
"our father Jacob."
The writer is comparing Jesus to all the alternatives
because it seems some have either abandoned the faith or they have hedged their
bets by going back to old covenant practices.
Here, the point is that the high priests are men like us, they are
sinful and they are temporary, they will die whereas Jesus continues in office
forever because of the resurrection. His
death was temporary, His life is eternal.
Our high priest doesn’t go into the holy of holies once a year before
the footstool of God, He sits permanently at the right hand of the Father and
makes intercession for us. He offers no
other sacrifices since His sacrifice of His life on the cross was found
acceptable by the Father. He is
incomparable!
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