"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1)
Around 4000 years ago, God gave Abraham four very important promises.
God said he would bless Abraham and he sure did. Abraham became a very wealthy and influential person, wealth not only in flocks and herds but in silver and gold as well.
God said he would give Abraham his own land, the land of Canaan, and this God did. Abraham travelled from Ur to eventually settle in Canaan where his family remained till the famine in the time of Joseph in Egypt.
Now here it gets a bit tricky. God promised Abraham he would be the father of a great nation, yet Sarah was now too old to have children. How would God solve this problem? Well, no problem. Sarah became pregnant and gave birth to a healthy baby boy whom they named Isaac. With one child, Abraham would now have to depend on God to fulfill that promise, because, although Abraham had more children, God told him that through Isaac, God would continue the promise. Abraham would not see the great nation - the Hebrews, the Israelites, then the Jews.
The final promise was that through Abraham, God would bless everyone. This seemed even more difficult to pull off, but 'with God nothing is impossible' as back in the beginning of time, God set in motion a plan of redemption, and Abraham became a vital part of that plan. It took 2000 years for God to keep that promise, and like the plagues of Egypt there were two very different parts to this plan - what you saw and what God was doing.
Jesus was the promised Messiah and being perfect - God's son - he showed up the hypocrisy of the religious leaders who were very anxious to be rid of him. This they thought they did on Good Friday when they nailed him to a cross and watched him die, but what they did not realise was that God allowed them to do this as this was the climax of God's plan of redemption, a plan set in motion thousands of years before and promised to Abraham.
When Jesus died, God punished Jesus for all the wrongs of people like you and me, instead of punishing us and cutting us off from God. Jesus opened the way for us to be reconciled with God, as the Bible so clearly explains in John 3:16. "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him will not die but have everlasting life". God brought Jesus back to life to show that death and sin had been conquered once and for all. (Unfortunately it did not relieve this world of the God haters who still make life so very difficult for millions of Christians even today.)
Abraham never saw this promise brought to fruition yet by being obedient to God, he showed that he trusted God to fulfill yet another promise for the distant future. He was listed with the people in Hebrews 11 being commended for their faith in God to carry out his promises.
God still has many promises to fulfill and it is easy for us to wonder 'what the world is coming to'. Do we despair and give up, or like Abraham, trust God to keep those promises, many of which we may not see in our lifetime.
Jesus will return completing God's plan of redemption - we can trust him by faith.
Around 4000 years ago, God gave Abraham four very important promises.
God said he would bless Abraham and he sure did. Abraham became a very wealthy and influential person, wealth not only in flocks and herds but in silver and gold as well.
God said he would give Abraham his own land, the land of Canaan, and this God did. Abraham travelled from Ur to eventually settle in Canaan where his family remained till the famine in the time of Joseph in Egypt.
Now here it gets a bit tricky. God promised Abraham he would be the father of a great nation, yet Sarah was now too old to have children. How would God solve this problem? Well, no problem. Sarah became pregnant and gave birth to a healthy baby boy whom they named Isaac. With one child, Abraham would now have to depend on God to fulfill that promise, because, although Abraham had more children, God told him that through Isaac, God would continue the promise. Abraham would not see the great nation - the Hebrews, the Israelites, then the Jews.
The final promise was that through Abraham, God would bless everyone. This seemed even more difficult to pull off, but 'with God nothing is impossible' as back in the beginning of time, God set in motion a plan of redemption, and Abraham became a vital part of that plan. It took 2000 years for God to keep that promise, and like the plagues of Egypt there were two very different parts to this plan - what you saw and what God was doing.
Jesus was the promised Messiah and being perfect - God's son - he showed up the hypocrisy of the religious leaders who were very anxious to be rid of him. This they thought they did on Good Friday when they nailed him to a cross and watched him die, but what they did not realise was that God allowed them to do this as this was the climax of God's plan of redemption, a plan set in motion thousands of years before and promised to Abraham.
When Jesus died, God punished Jesus for all the wrongs of people like you and me, instead of punishing us and cutting us off from God. Jesus opened the way for us to be reconciled with God, as the Bible so clearly explains in John 3:16. "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him will not die but have everlasting life". God brought Jesus back to life to show that death and sin had been conquered once and for all. (Unfortunately it did not relieve this world of the God haters who still make life so very difficult for millions of Christians even today.)
Abraham never saw this promise brought to fruition yet by being obedient to God, he showed that he trusted God to fulfill yet another promise for the distant future. He was listed with the people in Hebrews 11 being commended for their faith in God to carry out his promises.
God still has many promises to fulfill and it is easy for us to wonder 'what the world is coming to'. Do we despair and give up, or like Abraham, trust God to keep those promises, many of which we may not see in our lifetime.
Jesus will return completing God's plan of redemption - we can trust him by faith.
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