A Basic Lesson from Abraham’s Failure
Gen. 12:9-10: And Abram journeyed onward, journeying toward the Negev. And there was a famine in the land; and Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land. The landscape of our Christian experience consists not of peaks only, but of many valleys as well. Though often […]
The Altars in Genesis (4) – The First Altar Built by Abraham: An Anti-Testimony
In a previous post we considered the altar that Noah built to Jehovah (link to post). We saw that Noah was a man who cared for God, but his descendants did not. Noah’s great-grandson, Nimrod, established the great city and kingdom of Babylon (Gen. 10:1, 6, 8, 10). Then, instead of exalting God, Nimrod’s descendants […]
The Altars in Genesis (3) – The Altar Built by Noah
The first post in this series showed that we can build a spiritual altar to God through our consecrating ourselves to Him, that is, through our consent to let God work in us and through us. The second post presented the motivating factor for our building an altar to God—His spiritual appearing to us. In […]
The Altars in Genesis (2) — The Prerequisite to Building an Altar: God’s Appearing
In the previous post of this series, we saw that Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob built altars in order to consecrate themselves to God; that is, to give themselves and all that they had to Him. Since we too may desire to consecrate ourselves to God as these men did, we must see and experience […]
The Faith that Justifies
In Romans 3, Paul discusses justification by faith, and in chapter 4 he presents Abraham as an example of one having such faith. Paul’s presentation concerning Abraham’s faith in Romans 4 is based on Genesis 15:6, which says, “He believed Jehovah, and He accounted it to him as righteousness.” Although the simple act of believing […]
A Tamarisk Tree and the Eternal God
“And Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beer-sheba, and there he called on the name of Jehovah, the Eternal God.” (Genesis 21:33) After the conception of Isaac, the promised seed of God, Abraham sojourned in Beer-sheba, living by a well he dug and redeemed back from Abimelech, the king of Gerar. The account in Chapter 21 indicates that Isaac grew […]
Christ Growing in Our Heart (4): The Significance of Speaking in the Experience of Jacob and Joseph
In the first chapter of the book of Genesis, we see that God made man in His own image and gave him His dominion to have authority (Gen. 1:26). In the last section of Genesis, the fulfillment of these matters of image and dominion is seen in the experience of Jacob and Joseph. With Jacob, […]
Life-Study of Genesis: Messages 102-104
This week we continue our reading of the Life-Study of Genesis with messages 102 through 104. Message 102: Being Matured – The Manifestation of Maturity (5) (9) Concerning Dan (a) A Young Lion Fighting for More Land (b) A Serpent, a Horned Snake on the Way, Biting the Horse’s Heels and Causing […]
Life-Study of Genesis: Messages 66-68
In message 66 of the Life-Study of Genesis, we begin to cover the record of Jacob who is one of the most interesting people in the book of Genesis. Actually, as far as the experience of life is concerned, Jacob should not be considered as a separate individual. For example, with Jacob we can see the […]
Christ Growing in Our Heart (3): The Growth of Christ within the Believers as Typified by the Growth of Isaac
What God is after today is not a vast number of believers who have been regenerated yet have not grown in the divine life. Rather, to fulfill God’s purpose we must grow in life and progress from our initial experience of Christ being born in us until we arrive at the measure of the stature […]