Back and better than ever, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob podcast continues. Episode 8 on the way. Are you ready? We pretty much finished chapter 22 of Genesis last time, so we’re ready to make the transition from Abraham to Isaac – a monumental transition, really. As always, I’ll encourage you, if this is your first time listening, go back and listen from the beginning so you can get the whole picture of this amazing story. And remember more resources, like this podcast, are available on mariosnministries.com. Also, can I trouble you to leave a review of the podcast on your favorite platform, that helps get the word out. The other thing that helps more than anything actually, is for you to share this podcast with your family and friends. We would be so grateful. The reason this is being recorded is to be a help to those who God would have listen, that they may be strengthen and encouraged in their faith as they meet face to face with the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. So, the more people we can get it too, the better. With that said, let’s get started! [MUSIC BUMPER] Last episode, we finished the amazing story of Abraham sacrificing his son Isaac. A truly inspiring account of the faithfulness of God. It is a story that looks forward toward the ultimate sacrifice of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, on the cross. To put even more emphasis on it, take one last look at the end of Genesis 22. The conclusion of the episode with the sacrifice of Isaac is that the angel of the Lord calls out to Abraham a second time and says: By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice. So, you not only hear there, again, the affirmation of God’s promise to Abraham – He will multiply his offspring— but note that “in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.” How is this possible? As we have discussed, the Christ will eventually come through Abraham’s offspring, through whom we are all saved. If you take a look at Luke 3, starting on verse 23, you’ll read the genealogy of Jesus and Luke will trace it from Joseph, all the way back through David and Jacob, Isaac to Abraham, and even all the way to Adam. It is all significant. And you can understand it better now, after getting acquainted with the God of Abraham and His faithful promises. I hope those New Testament passages take on a new meaning for you. Okay, time to move on now, we read that Abraham was told about his brother Nahor having children with Milcah his wife. A number of his children are mentioned, including Bethuel who fathered Rebecka. That is a name we don’t know about yet, but we will. It relates to one of today’s story, so I want to note it for here. Chapter 23 greets us with the death of Sarah. She lived 127 years, the text says, and she died at Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan (in Israel today, in the West Bank as it is known). We are told Abraham weeps for Sarah and sets out to find a fitting gravesite for his beloved. Recall that Abraham is sojourning in the land of the Hittites, so he asks them for a piece of land, and we have this sort of a funny exchange where they want to just give it to him, but he wants to buy it from them. They go back and forth, but Abraham insists, and he pays Ephron the son of Zohar four hundred shekels of silver for the cave of Machpelah, where he ends up burying Sarah. This is an important Biblical site that is still around to this day, Abraham will be buried here also, as will be Isaac and his wife and Jacob and his wife. The site has been transformed at different points in history. Herod the Great built a big structure around it. There was a church built inside that was later converted into a mosque by the Muslims in the 7th century, and then recaptured by the Crusaders in the 12th century, then again by Muslims. But anyway, you can still visit this site today, although the actual tomb is in the cave beneath the place that is open to the public. These facts are always encouraging to note because they remind us, we are reading history here, not fiction. Always remember that and remind your children and grandchildren of it. Abraham is left alone now, but he is very old also. If Sarah is 127, he is probably 137, given their ages at the birth of Isaac (90 and 100). So, he’s thinking that his time is coming and therefore wants to make sure Isaac marries a woman from his own tribe, and not a Canaanite from the place they are currently living, so he makes his servant swear to him that he would go back to his homeland and try to get a wife for his son. The servant is a...
