Genesis Chapter 15

Shalom and welcome to via hafte yes Ryan a Hebrew phrase which means you shall love Israel we hope you'll stay with us for the next 30 minutes as our teacher dr. Baruch shares his expose Ettore teaching from the Bible dr. Baruch is the senior lecturer at the Zahra Avraham Institute based in Israel although all courses are taught in Hebrew at the Institute dr. Baruch is pleased to share this weekly address in English to find out more about our work in Israel please visit us on the web at love Israel you are G that's one word love Israel dot o RG now here's Baruch with today's lesson now we know how important faith is from a biblical perspective and the chapter that we're going to study today speaks of true faith and you can't just simply take half of what God reveals in this chapter but we need to see how the first part works with the second in order to bring the outcome of faith and what is that the establishment of the kingdom of God so look with me to Genesis chapter 15 and we're going to see how God continues to work in the life of Avraham and how Avraham continues to respond to what God's doing applying faith to each and every situation and that is wise counsel for us no matter where we are being led by God however the Holy Spirit directs our ways we need to apply faith of that situation realizing faith is the application of the truth of God so look with me to verse 1 Genesis chapter 15 and verse 1 after these things now when we come across a sentence like that what must we do we have to ask what things are we speaking of and in summary we could say victory we need to remember that in the previous chapter Avraham defeated the armies of the enemies of those who were standing in opposition to the things that God wanted these armies were ones that were living in a unrighteous and ungodly manner and they were attacking the things that belonged to God so Avraham he stood up in faith and he went to war with a very small number of individuals but because of God who responds to the faithfulness of man Avraham was delivered so when we look at verse 1 and we find that phrase after these things we need to bring what just happened into this chapter to set the proper context so look again at verse 1 and after these things the word of the Lord was to Avram in a vision saying something stands out usually in the Torah especially when God speaks to Moshe Rabbeinu that is Moses he says simply and the word of the Lord was to Moses same thing with the prophets but here we have an extra word it says the word of the Lord was to Avram but it came how in a vision and notice another principle it was because of Abraham's victory that God supplied him never less because Avraham acted in faith notice the outcome greater revelation and this is something that I say frequently that obedience putting faith into action hearing God's Word and doing it will bring greater revelation to the person and this is exactly what we're seeing in verse 1 after these things the word of the Lord was to Abraham in a vision saying do not fear Avram I and the next word again it is a shield so we might translate it that I will be a shield to you or I will defend you however you want to put it it's actually in the presence I am defending you or I am your shield so God is making a promise he is going to reveal greater truth to Avraham how he needs to carry on and he's saying this is going to challenge you but do not be afraid and when we hear that expression what should we gain from let when we're not fearful it's when we're exercising and implementing faith in our life when we don't implement faith in our life when we don't exercise the Word of God his truth then we're going to be fearful once more do not fear Avram I am a shield to you and your reward very much it's literally what it says so God is speaking about a reward he was victorious in the physical and that victory in the physical and here's the key that victory in the physical is going to bring a greater reward and the word here is very much and that's important because that word may odd in Hebrew oftentimes speaks of a heavenly or a kingdom reward and we find here that it's going to be exceedingly much or very much now look at verse 2 and Avram said Lord God what will you give to me I am going childless so he says you know you say I have a great reward but I am going Chava childless he has no heir and he points that out when he continues and says who then must sheykh Beaty which is an expression been mashek is a servant so a household servants servant who dumbest who is from Damascus and his name is Eliezer what we learned here is Avram says I have no one other than this man Eliezer who is from Damascus he's my household servant one that's probably the key servant in charge of everything under Abraham's authority and what he's pointing out is because he has no child in the end who's gonna receive this this estate all the blessings everything that God has provided him it's this man now look at verse verse three and Abraham said Behold you have not given to me Sarah a seed and offspring and once again he says and behold a son of my house meaning a member speaking about this same one this Eliezer he is going to inherit me meaning he is going to be my heir so twice Avraham has pointed that out he stated that and why is he doing it well remember he's living and walking in faith he's recalling the promises of God back earlier in chapter 12 when God says he's going to multiply him and make him a great nation and Avraham says well I am wealthy I have accumulated much I have been victorious over many kings but never less I have no heir to carry on my heritage and Eliezer and by the way we're going to learn in later chapters that Eliezer although he was loyal to offer he was not a man that began in faith meaning he was not a man that believed in the God of Abraham at this time so he was a faithless man and he was going to inherit everything that God had provided for Alfre well look if you would to verse verse four and behold the word of the Lord was to him saying no this one he will not inherit you or be your heir rather one literal it's a word who goes forth one who will go forth from your loins he will be your heir he's going to inherit everything from you so God is reaffirming that promise and even though there has been a a relationship for several years between God and Avram this promise of multiplying him making in the father of many peoples none of that has happened but God reaffirms in chapter 15 that even though offering has seen nothing physically of this this production of an heir and offspring a son God has just reconfirmed that to him and notice the outcome it says in verse verse 4 rather one who will go forth from your loins he will be your heir and he brought him outside and literally the word to bring out outside so God is redirecting Avraham he brings him outside and he says to him middle verse 5 look towards the heavens and count the Stars if you are able to count them and he sits and thus shall be your offspring so now imagine that this man who has no children whatsoever he is not young he's approaching a hundred and God tells him that you're going to have children as much as there are in the stars in the sky what a statement now this is where it builds now we come to a very important verse look at the next verse verse 6 worry says here and Abraham literally that's a subject it literally says Vahey mean bastion of a hollow sadaqa and he believed in the Lord and he credit him that is abraham believed God in the Lord and God credited to him as righteousness now pay attention to that verse verse 6 it is a very well-known scripture and it's repeated several times in the New Covenant and what it has to do with is Abraham's faith and it teaches us faith leads to righteousness in his foundation for understanding the gospel truth understanding what believing in God's provision believing in the seed of Abraham which Paul tells us in Galatians 3:16 is Messiah what that will bring about in our life and what is that well notice the last word righteousness so most believers they look at this and see great significance and a verse Genesis 15:6 which is foundational to our faith and I would concur with that but here's the problem they stop there they don't understand what God wants to additionally attach to it we're speaking about faith and part of this faith program that God is revealing which is established and founded obviously on Messiah Yeshua but it also it also relates to another important aspect that all too often believers today ignore and don't realize the serious implication of this second for the kingdom of God being established now look to the next verse verse 7 and the Lord said to him I am the Lord which brought you from the of the Chaldeans to give to you this land for an inheritance now pay attention because one of the purposes that we do these studies is to also help us learn techniques the right methodology in interpreting the scripture and when you don't have right technique when you don't follow the proper methodology you're not going to arrive at the proper conclusions methodology is key we've seen this word for inheritance or heir it's the same word the root is Loretto to possess to inherit or heir and we've seen that word repeated several times and now in this verse verse 7 it comes again and this would be the fourth time it appears and we read here that God no sooner does he say and affirms that there's going to be that seed of Abraham who is going to be his heir who is going to possess the promises of God that God made to Abraham and everyone agrees it's Messiah but notice how the scripture continues look again at verse 7 and the Lord said to him I am the lord who brought you out so the context of bringing out that is a redemptive word the word let's end so the context is redemption and we know and there's no debate about it that Messiah is the Redeemer he does the work of redemption so God reminds us of this important term concept redemption and he says I am the lord who brought you out of the earth of the Chaldeans to give to you this for an inheritance that you would inherit it and that's important why because the promise of the seed referring to Messiah also goes hand-in-hand with the promise concerning the Land of Israel if you believe in Messiah you likewise have to believe in the significance of the Land of Israel that land for bringing about the outcome of messiahs work the outcome of redemption which is the establishment of the kingdom and more and more today we see that believers Bible teachers theological institutions various ministries churches whatnot they put no significance on the land biblically it is forbidden to have such a perspective because when we look at the scripture and we remember what Paul says in the book of Romans concerning the significance of that verse Genesis 15:6 Word says and abraham believed in the lord and god accounted it to him he credited to him as or for righteousness that verse is so important it's foundational in the gospel every believer must believe it and therefore when we continue to read and we see the promise of the land attached to it if you fail to understand the significance of the land you're not going to really understand the full outcome of this messianic hope that yeshua gives to us now look if you would to verse 8 and the Lord God said excuse me and he said the Lord God with what shall I know that I won't Hera didn't hear Avram is speaking and he says to the Lord God with what shall I know that I will inherit it and he says to him this is God speaking he says take for yourself a calf of three-year-old now here instead of the normal way of saying three-year-old it uses a word Maish elicit this is normally in modern hebrew it's the word for triangle or a three-sided and here is being used in a unique way I believe that we're seeing a reference to the redemptive God God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Spirit so take a calf that's three years old and a goat that's three years old and a ram that's also three years old and a dove and a young now it's two ways to interpret this I realize in most of your Bibles if you're following along and I hope you are in a more literal interpretation it will say at the end not only are you supposed to take that calf that's three years old and also that that goat that's three years old and that Ram that's three years old but also a tour which is a a dove and then it goes out which is a young most Bibles say a young pigeon but but we have an issue here because that word Vey goes out it could mean an or even many times when the word and is used it's used as a a clarification so it could be saying a young a very young because the word goes out can mean a young bird of any variety not necessarily a pigeon so it could be attached to the other and why do I say that well if you keep reading notice what happens verse verse 10 and he took for himself all of these and he cut them in the middle and he set one that one of the piece that he cut before the other so he cut half in the middle and he set them what we could say you know piece to piece and he did so with all the pieces now how many pieces did he have well he cut the the calf in half he cut the goat in half and he also cut the ram in half so six pieces but notice what it says at the end of this verse it says at hi-c por lo Vitara which means and the bird now we thought that there were two birds both this tour which is a a dozen a dove and secondly this goes out which is a young pigeon how most translators translated but why wouldn't he say and the birds do not cut but he did he just says and the bird and the significance of that is this we have if it's just one bird and that word Vagos out has to do with a a description of that first bird which is the only bird just meaning that he's got to be young then we would have those six parts because each of those animals the calf the goat and the RAM would be divided into so 3 times 2 6 plus 1 bird which he does nothing to then you would have 7 pieces and that's significant because this word for 7 has to do with perfection or holiness or setting something apart if in fact there's two birds then we would not have 7 pieces but we would have eight pieces and that eight would speak to the kingdom a new reality it's the number of redemption so however the right way is so we can't be dogmatic about it it has significance now I personally think that we're talking about 3 animals plus one bird and why do I do that well we're going to see that there's a preference for the number four in the rest of this text so I'm going to say that he took four types of animals he took a calf he took a goat he also took a ram and this this bird this young bird as well for different types of animals and why do I say that well look now if you would to to verse first ten and he took for himself all of these and he cut them in the middle and he said each one next to the other each piece of each of each of these next to the other but the bird he did not cut and what happens look now to verse 11 he sets these all out and let's just agree upon this this setting them out and the number of pieces has significance he lays them out for a purpose a heavenly purpose a divine purpose one that speaks to us and what happens well shouldn't surprise us there's always that one who wants to corrupt and destroy what God is up to and immediately did that and look if you would to verse 11 we read and and ayat that is a falcon or an eagle however you translate that but what we know is this it is a unclean bird so an unclean bird comes down upon the the carcasses and we continue to read here and Avraham he basically turned it away turn that that bird away now it's here when it says via Chev Oh Tom Avram he returned them now it could be that he shoot the bird away and there was more than one or that he he put back these this I came to destroy things to mess him up and avraham reposition them in the right way so what do we learn there's an obstacle there's always that one who wants to corrupt destroy and and hinder the purposes of God from being done from being realized to be made complete now look at the middle of verse 12 we read here beginning with verse 12 and it came about as the Sun was going down that Avraham there was to him a very deep sleep he fell into a deep sleep or literally a deep sleep fell upon him that's what it literally says and behold there was a great dark terror now the word terror is a word EEMA Hashanah is dark and the word Dula means great so Avraham as this is going on and we see an obstacle the last thing that's mentioned is that there is an obstacle to what God has told Abraham to do he's working to put things back as he's doing that a great sleep falls upon him now some Bibles will use the word trance it is the modern Hebrew word for for a a type of drug that puts people to sleep so it's a heavy it's not just a normal sleep it is a synthetic something caused him to fall into this deep sleep and the purpose of that is revelation here again I cannot overestimate how this fifteenth chapter is all about revelation teaching Avraham and we have the privilege of listening in and watching what's taking place so that we can learn and be like Avraham and apply it faithfully to our lives so this greatest falls upon him and behold he he saw this vision of of great black terror meaning the darkness something once something wants to cover it up and we read in verse 13 and it was said to Abraham you shall know certainly in the word to know is repeated twice that's why we translated into English but you shall utterly know or certainly know or surely know that a that your seed will be a sojourner will dwell in a land that's not to them and they will enslave them or serve them that means your seed is going to serve someone else you're to serve them and they are going to afflict you meaning afflicting the children of Israel for 400 years now obviously this is speaking about the exodus from Egypt the descendants of Abraham and we're speaking about here Jacob going down and his twelve sons and all the family going down into Egypt where they're going to be slaves where they're going to be afflicted and it says for 400 years now notice that number four as in 400 that's going to be significant because the number four is go to repeat and I believe that that has to do with the four animals the calf the goat and the RAM and ultimately that that bird that young bird that is is use so they're going down for four hundred years to a nation where they're going to serve that nation and that nation is going to inflict them four hundred years look at verse 14 and also that nation which they shall serve I am going to judge God does just that at Passover time the first Passover and afterwards they shall go forth meaning the children of Israel afterwards they shall go forth with great possession beer hush hush is possessions that which one can acquire so they're good acquire great things and we know when the children of Israel went out of Egypt they were giving gold and silver to take with them so they went out not empty-handed but they went out with with great possession so they shall go out with great possession verse 15 and you shall go to your forefathers and peace me you're gonna die in peace you were gonna be buried in a good old age literally it's a word save Tova save I usually has to do with one with with grey hair white hair someone of elderly condition so Abraham's gonna go very very old and he's gonna die in peace be gathered up with his father's remember the term father has to do with faith and promise so he's going to receive the faithful promises that God has has offered to him and now look if you would to verse 16 4:16 says and in the fourth generation now here generation you know a lot of people so you say well how long is a generation they say 40 years so that's not entirely true other where we find generations having to do with twenty years until one produces an offspring but here the term generation is probably speaking about what we would call today a century 100 years it has to do with Abraham the next generation yet stock and then Yaakov and then Joseph and the next generation and it was that next generation that came out of Egypt so notice how the number four repeats four hundred years and in our text verse 16 and in that fourth generation now the number four is important biblically usually when the number four appears in the scripture or alluded to it is a number that reflects to the world the rabbi's will say it's a global number it has to do with all the world all the peoples and that makes sense why because the Covenant that that God is establishing with Abraham a covenant of of perfection a covenant that's holy it is going to impact not just the children of Israel but all the world and I believe why because of that is why the number four appears over and over and also helps us to understand that there were four animals that calf goat Ram and the bird that's mentioned specifically in the text earlier on now let's look at the sixteenth verse again and the fourth generation they shall return there meaning they're gonna come out and return back to where the land notice the emphasis on the Land of Israel for I have not paid completely the word here is Shallon it's not whole what he is done to who it says I have not paid completely the the transgression of the amorite and the amber i'ts most scholars believe that this is simply the leading people of the Canaanites so God is saying they're going to come out of Egypt and they're going to judge the Canaanites the em rights were simply the leaders of the Canaanites now verse 17 and it came about as the son was was going down and darkness was behold there was a stove and this is a stove that that emits smoke there was a torch of fire and also it says these go between these pieces these cuttings of the animals now what does this refer to it refers to two things number one God receiving this offering it is these offerings which are in fact confirming and making the covenant that God established with Avraham in Genesis 12 many people speak about how this covenant is going to come in its fulfillment out through Great Tribulation through fire fire refers to oftentimes tribulation smoke does as well so what we find is that the covenants going to be fulfilled but it's good to come about through Great Tribulation but God is going to bring these things about now look at verse 18 it begins with a very very familiar phrase by Omaha who that is expression on that day and that expression usually refers to the the last days Judgment Day so notice the context God says I haven't finished pain who the amorite which is the enemies of God's people the leadership against God's people so God is promising that he is going to be faithful to the Covenant which is established here and he is going to and then judge the enemies of God's people what he's going to do that in the last days that's why it says beome hahoo and that day the Lord cut and that word means a covenant with Avram saying to your seed I will give this lamb now when we look at this beome how who it speaks of the last days and God in the last days is going to affirm and us Atlas the fulfillment of this covenant I'll promise which is the LAN LAN is synonymous bibley speaking with the kingdom so if you don't have a right view of the Land of Israel if you are some misguided Bible teacher theologian or you listen to them that says the land has no more significance it's not part of what God's interested in if you make a statement like God's not interested in the real estate today land has no significance to him it's not of this world well you are wrong the millennial kingdom is of this world it is a transformation of this world into God's order and by the way we don't have time to go into it now but the greatest time of people coming to faith in Messiah sure is going to be at the Millennial Kingdom don't neglect the significance of what God's going to do in the Millennial Kingdom why is there two basic time allotments for the kingdom of God we have the Millennial Kingdom and then we had that final state of the kingdom the New Jerusalem why not just one well if you don't know the answer to that you're not reading prophecy the millennial kingdom is Israel's finest hour what does that mean Israel was created to bless the nations and in other words the Millennial Kingdom is going to be the finest time for the nations to learn the truth and be blessed the Millennial Kingdom is preparation for that final state the New Jerusalem what's your aslam to inherit God's will the fulfillment of his will so those who are Alma Linnaeus they neglect so much of Scripture and they neglect so many people coming to become part of God's family look again at verse 18 and in that day the Lord cut a covenant with Abraham saying to your see I will give this land and it's a Last Days context meaning God's not going to forget this and before the kingdom is established this promise that the land has to be fulfilled and what does that promise of the land well notice it's from the Nahar mitzrayim the river in egypt unto the great river the harp erat which is the Euphrates River so before the kingdom can be established God remember if you put great significance on the faith that Abraham had he believed God do you believe God do you have the faith that says I believe that the nation of Israel is going to be expanding not contracting like the world once like the United Nations pushed for like the year pinyon and pushed for like the white house presently perhaps not but in the past they have wanted Israel to give up land this is against faith the faith of Abraham the faith that brings righteousness into one's life see you cannot say I believe in God's promise of Messiah and I believe it's Yeshua but I see no significance in the Land of Israel or saying I don't believe Israel's going to expand its borders yes they are it is a mandate it is a must for the fulfillment of God's covenant promise that he made to Abraham you should want that why what's the outcome that all the families of the earth will be blessed if you want more and more people to be blessed and receive the promises of God you're going to want Israel to expand now today it is so hard for people to think in this political climate that God is going to make Israel grow in in its borders well that's going to happen true faith the faith of Abraham you believe in that why God has promised victory is it any harder to believe that 318 men are good to defeat four armies that can't happen in the natural and Israel expanding her borders isn't gonna happen in the natural it's gonna happen because God is going to give victory well let's wrap up look if you would to verse 19 verse 19 20 and 21 speaks about the judgment remember the verse 18 begins by Omaha who which is in that day and it's always a reference to in judgment day what's he going to do he says in verse 19 the Canaanite meaning that Canaanite this is not the Canaanites but a different word and the kena site and the Catmull night and the hittite and the present and the Rif I mites and the Emirates and now the canaanites and the girgashites and the jebusites now if you look here between verses 19 and 21 those three verses how many people are mentioned well I'm not going to say them again but you have ten different nations mentioned now why is that important sometime when we speak about those that make up the the people of the land of Canaan sometimes we have six sometimes we have seven sometimes we have eight here very unusual ten nations are mentioned 10 is the number of completion or fullness or entirety and how did the scripture begin worth reminding us victory and how does the scripture end the same way that God is going to bring judgment completely upon those people who stand in opposition to the faith of avril Yitzhak and Yakov the true faith of Messiah Yeshua so let me wrap up this message by simply saying this if you don't believe in the significance of the land of Israel do you really believe in this one that offer believed in the one who is Messiah see it's very very dangerous and it is hermeneutic ly impossible to say I believe in all what Messiah is going to do but I don't believe in what God said concerning the land in the last days this scripture puts these two components together as as integrally important for the establishment of the kingdom of God well I'll close with that until next week and we begin Genesis and chapter 16 well we hope you will benefit from today's message and share it with others please plan to join us each week at this time and on this channel for our broadcast of love Israel org again to find out more about us please visit our website love Israel not bow RG there you will find articles in numerous other lectures by Beru these teachings are in video form may download them or watch them in streaming video until next week may the Lord bless you in our Messiah Yeshua that is Jesus as you walk with Him Shalom from Israel [Music]

Channel: LoveIsrael.org

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Keywords: Bible & Teaching, Creation, Israel, Missions & Ministry, Religion, Spiritual Growth, Education

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Length: 43min 27sec (2607 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 01 2018