Blessed

DEVOTION

GENESIS

BLESSED

Gen 22:15-24

15 The angel of the LORD called to Abraham from heaven a second time 16 and said, "I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, 18 and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me." 19 Then Abraham returned to his servants, and they set off together for Beersheba. And Abraham stayed in Beersheba. 20 Some time later Abraham was told, "Milcah is also a mother; she has borne sons to your brother Nahor: 21 Uz the firstborn, Buz his brother, Kemuel (the father of Aram), 22 Kesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph and Bethuel." 23 Bethuel became the father of Rebekah. Milcah bore these eight sons to Abraham's brother Nahor. 24 His concubine, whose name was Reumah, also had sons: Tebah, Gaham, Tahash and Maacah.

NIV

Several truths are withheld within these words of the Lord. First the angel of the Lord, Yahweh, is indeed Yahweh himself because he swears by himself. An angel cannot swear by himself, as could we. If we swear, such as in a court of law, to tell the truth, we used to say, “So help me God”. we may no longer have to swear by God anymore as the government has taken so many steps to remove God from the public square. But the point is we as people cannot swear by ourselves, we always need to invoke someone of more power or authority to prove ourselves telling the truth. God does not have that need as there is none higher, more powerful, with more authority then himself. This is extremely important as all we know about the promises of God, we can be confident they are all true and will happen just as he has said. We know all this because it is confirmed to us.

Heb 6:13-20

13 When God made his promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for him to swear by, he swore by himself, 14 saying, "I will surely bless you and give you many descendants."   15 And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised. 16 Men swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument. 17 Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. 18 God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged. 19 We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, 20 where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.

NIV

The second truth is about all the nations being blessed by the offspring of Abraham. We notice God promised to make his descendants as numerous as the stars, the Septuagint uses the word also translated seed. Yet it is the same word that is translated as offspring. It is used for both, but in the first application it means exactly that, the number of people who will be actual descendants of Abraham. We have this little history lesson about the brother of Abraham, Nahor. The reason for this little genealogy is to bring us to Rebekah, who was to be the bride to Isaac. We will see all this play out when we get to chapter 24. It is through Isaac and Rebekah that Jacob and Esau, the twins were born and we know that Jacob was the father of the twelve tribes of Israel, which is because God changed Jacob’s name to Israel. We will be spending a long time with Jacob in the coming chapters. But here we are getting the setup for the marriage of Isaac with Rebekah that will begin the fulfillment of this oath, this swearing of God by himself about the number of descendants Abraham will have. Yet this word seed has also been translated as offspring and it refers solely to Christ. There is no human by which all the nations on earth can be blessed. But they all can be blessed because of Jesus, who in the flesh is the offspring of Abraham or comes through the line of his seed.  This is why we are blessed. Not because of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, or his twelve sons, but because of Jesus. This blessing has nothing to do with our country, our station in life, our financial portfolio, or anything else in the physical or material realm. When we consider every nation being blessed, we have to remember they are people, many of thousands of people who make less than the equivalent of two dollars a day. They virtually live in poverty, yet they are blessed because of Jesus. Well, that is if they first know Jesus and accept him as their Lord and Savior. But the point is everyone on earth has the opportunity to receive this blessing for God has already determined they shall be blessed because of Jesus, the seed of Abraham. This should give us the most positive attitude in life. We should always be filled with joy, peace and hope because of Jesus. No matter what happens in our life, we are blessed by God through Jesus. We have eternal life. Sometimes it might be easy to get bogged down in the everyday experiences of life.  If we focus our attention on the hurdles of life, we might get tripped up. But if we keep our eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, the things of earth, our daily life, any troubles, any struggles, and any hardships will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. This is all because God swore an oath, made a promise, by his own name. We are blessed.