Welcome to Journey from Jacob. From our first
breath to our last heartbeat, we are all on a
journey. Jacob was a biblical character whose
journey is documented for our benefit. Like all
of us, there were unforgettable moments along
the way which required decisiveness. One of those
decisions determined his destination. We will
not only discuss Jacob's journey, but Israel's
as well, right up to date. May this podcast inspire
you to make choices along your way that will
benefit others and guide you to the destination
we all long for. My name is Paul again. This
is Comfort My People's podcast called Journey
From Jacob. I want to address something that
a lot of people are concerned about. It's like
we have so many Bible studies. Why do we need
another one? And I understand that too. But the
Bible is so important that people are drawn to
it and a lot of people leave frustrated very
quickly. And I think one of the keys is to study
it sequentially. I think that's a major key because
it's a sealed book from start to finish. It never
should have interrupted with an Old and New Testament.
There's different stories I understand that,
but to consider one old and one new, the new
one's actually quite old too. It's 2 ,000 years
old almost. So... The names don't work, but mentally
we're prepared for something that's really not
that important when we're studying the Old Testament,
which is so contrary to God's will because He's
the Author. So, in this case we're moving back
from where Jacob was in his journey. He became
Israel. He was named Israel from God, which became
a new identity, which we will explore more as
time goes on. But it's real important to do sort
of a Star War thing, which I don't think Star
Wars invented it, but it's starting a story kind
of at the end. We started it kind of in the middle
and we're moving back to the beginning because
we have to see why Jacob was actually the man
that he was before he became Israel. Because
these are dysfunctional families and there's
reason for it. And one of the main reasons I
think that we can identify with is that God was
never looking for people that were superheroes.
They were not movie stars. They were people and
in their day they had a whole lot of baggage
to carry even though it seemed like such a simple
life. So you got to think in terms of civilizations
which were very, very crude and wicked and vile
practices that surrounded Israel, all around
Israel. And so in order for us to be able to
understand some of the issues that Jacob specifically
went through, we need to follow how it started
from the beginning. So we already started in
the garden. We talked about the fall of man and
how the serpent was cursed, the land was cursed,
but Adam and Eve were not. But their lives seemed
like they were cursed because of the way things
turned. They were exiled from the garden and
they started to have family. And Cain was the
firstborn. And Eve said, God has given me a man.
Now that's an exciting statement she made. We
just read those words. But it was exciting because
God said that from her would come the seed, which
is the woman. She's the woman that talks about
in Genesis chapter 3. And that seed will one
day, God never said when and which one, but one
day crush the head of the serpent. And so many
Christian scholars or Bible teachers will jump
from there all the way into Matthew chapter 1,
where Jesus shows up as the seed of the woman.
Well, that doesn't really work. So we've missed
so much on the way there, because there's this
anticipation that started in the minds of those,
beginning with Adam and Eve, who are going to
be key players in this story until their time
is over, and then it goes to the next generation,
the next generation. And this is, in Hebrew,
the word for generation or seed is zera. And
that word is first used in the garden, the seed
of the woman, and the seed of the serpent, both
zera. One is a physical seed and the other is
a spiritual seed. Satan had no children. The
seed of Satan was those who complied with him,
those that followed him, those that bought into
his protocol and his agenda and followed him
willingly. That's the seed of the serpent. We
see it all throughout human history. But the
seed of the... The woman is a literal physical
genealogy line that starts with Cain. But Cain
killed his brother Abel. So the two of them were
the seed of the woman. She was anticipating one
of them, at least, first it was Cain, to be the
one that would crush the serpent's head, because
she didn't like the idea of the curse, nor did
her husband Adam. By the way, we don't hear from
Adam after that. And I think there's a real important
reason to consider, is that her first son, firstborn
son, kills her second son. Now we're not going
to go into that in detail, except to acknowledge
that God tried to stop Cain from doing what he
was... he knew he was going to do. He said, sin
crouches at the door and longs to get you, Cain.
Don't do it. And yet we know what Cain did. He
did it. And then Cain is exiled. So here is Adam
and Eve. They lose their firstborn son to his
exile and the secondborn son is dead. So the
first human event, this activity outside of the
garden is a murder. It's a murder trial and God
is the judge. And so these two characters are
no longer there. Unfortunately, Abel, maybe he
could have been the one. So we don't know these
stories. And here's why people kind of give up
on the Bible. They think, oh, this is confusing
right away. I don't get it. I don't know why
God does this. Why this happened? Why couldn't
he stop? And we start thinking like, oh, you
know, God is not to be trusted. The book's not
to be trusted. It's got so many flaws. And before
you know it, the Bible goes on the wayside. But
this is the key, that the Bible is a book of
faith. And we see that in Eve, because she trusted
God at His word. Now, the Bible is also a book
of promises. And promises are somewhat equal
to prophecy, because a true prophet will speak
according to God's word, and it'll always be
true. It'll come to pass, whether it's in his
day or later in time. It will come to pass if
it's one of those things that thus sayeth the
Lord. That's an expression in King James. So,
if we don't believe that, then we don't have
the faith to continue. And I'm not saying drop
the Bible. I'm saying, God, I need to understand
this. And I know it comes through faith. It's
spiritually discerned. But these are human people.
These are human beings. It's a history of humanity
at the same time. It's a history of God and His
interaction with man. So don't throw things out
that you don't understand. One of the most important
verses in the Bible is from Proverbs chapter
3 verse 5 is, To lean not on your own understanding,
but in all your ways acknowledge Him. Put your
trust in Him, but lean not on your own understanding.
It's actually a command, very strong command.
Because our tendency is to say, I don't understand
this, but what you're really doing is you're
leaning on what you don't understand, rather
than believing what is being presented to you.
Because we don't get the full picture. We don't
get every jot and tittle of every story, and
we don't get the whys and the wherefores, but
we're called to trust. So it's a book of faith.
It has to be read from that perspective. By faith,
it says later on in Hebrews, many things happened,
one after one of these characters within the
Old Testament, the Hebrew Bible. did all these
different things by faith, in chapter 11 of Hebrews.
But it's also the only thing that pleases God.
So living by faith is a matter of trusting God
for the seen, but more so the unseen. Jesus would
repeat this over and over again. So we don't
want to just give up on things we don't understand.
I believe that if you take this Bible sequentially,
you're going to find out that's true. And it's
powerful and it's empowering. for you and your
spiritual life and your walk, and your walk with
mankind. You'll be able to do things you never
would have done if it wasn't for faith. Now faith,
we're going to go a fast way forward. Our faith
is not faith in faith, it's not faith in ourselves.
It's faith in God, but it's the faith of the
Son of God that we inherit in the new creation,
which is critical. So from there, we're going
to kind of skirt through the genealogy But it's
not Cain. It's not Abel. And then she has a son
named Seth. She calls him Seth. Seth means appointed
one. And literally what she's saying is perhaps
he is the one. So she's still believing. This
woman is incredible with all the crushing emotional
blows. Just try to imagine. She only had two
sons and both of them are gone. And Adam, I believe
that's why he's silent. He just can't do it because
he knows that this is on him. He did it. So these
fruit that they weren't supposed to eat, he chose
to be more important than the fruit they were
allowed to eat, and he went ahead and listened
to the one he should have ignored or rebuked.
So that's the serpent. So we move forward in
the genealogy, and we're really skipping a lot,
but we go from Cain and Abel are gone. Seth is
the new son. His name is Appointed One. Very
applicable. And so he moves on. We see Enoch
walking with God. He's in the line of Seth. Seth's
firstborn is Enosh, and it's the first time that
men begin to call on the name of the Lord. And
that's crazy because they were like a hundred
years into the garden by the time Seth was born,
I believe. And it seems like why didn't Adam
talk about God in all this time? You'd think
that men were calling on him, but they weren't.
And I think it's because Adam was just so blown
away. Maybe he never recovered. I'm sure He's
in heaven. I'm sure he got redeemed. He lived
for another 700 years or so. So he had plenty
of time to get it right with God. But in the
meantime, there was not much going on spiritually.
And so we move forward. We keep going. We come
to Lamech, who's the father of Noah. Lamech calls
his son Noah because that means comfort. So comfort...
is that, according to Lamak, Lamak was, he was
a man, and he was tilling the earth, and the
earth was not too easy to get food from if you
had to work with the sweat of your brow, and
there were thorns and thistles and mosquitoes
biting and such. And so he wanted his son to
end this affliction that he was experiencing
after the curse of the ground. And so he named
him Comfort. Maybe he will relieve us of our
toils, but it wasn't Noah. But we're still following
the seed, so we pass through Noah and he has
three sons, and Shem is the third son, and we
see that out of Shem came the knowledge of God
continued. So his two brothers came to his tent
to learn, and I'm speculating somewhat, of what's
God doing? What's happening here? What's spiritually
going on? Give us the rundown. And so the history
of, you know, from the Garden On is being passed
down generation to generation, and they're very
acutely aware of their beginnings. So we keep
going from Shem, he has a grandson named Terah
who has a son named Abram. He names him. And
Abraham is where we're going to focus on now.
We're going to jump into the story in Genesis
chapter 12. Now I would recommend that if you
have a Bible you'd kind of open it up if you'd
like. You could always write down these verses
and come back to them. He's the first one that's
been called. Abraham is called to follow him.
So it says here in verse 1 of chapter 12, Go
from your country, your kindred, your father's
house, to the land that I will show you. So there's
a specific place he wants to show him. And I
will make you a great nation. I will bless you
and make your name great so that you will be
a blessing. I will bless those who bless you
and curse those who curse you. In some versions
they dishonor those who curse you. And in you
all the families of the earth shall be blessed.
This is an incredible prophecy that God makes
and he's promising Abraham. So promise and prophecy
are one and the same. So Abraham went. Now, what
does it mean? He doesn't know. God just said
that, I'm going to bless you. He doesn't know
what he means. Now, bless literally means to
kneel before. And God is really blessing him.
He's actually, the picture is that he's kneeling
before Abraham and saying, Abraham, I'm going
to bless you. There's a purpose for this, Abraham.
I want you, yes, to be blessed. I want you to
have a good life. Yes, I do. I want you to have
descendants because you have none now. And you
will, Abraham. You will. And I'm going to bless
you. and I'm going to make you great, not great
for the sake of being great, because of what
you're going to do out of your greatness. So
this is a blessing. It's for all the families
of the earth. It's universal right from this
point on. So Abraham went, as the Lord told him,
and he departed. It's a wonderful story and I
just encourage you to read it from start to finish,
but we're going to be moving through it to Abraham's
moving into the promised land that God promised
him, it's Canaan, and then he's... finds that
he's got a problem, where he had moved towards.
Now was Abraham moving where he wanted? God didn't
say exactly where to go. He just said, I'm going
to show you the land. You're going to take possession
of it because it's going to be yours. So he moved
from verse 8 to the hill country on the east
of Bethel and pitched his tent. Bethel means
the house of God. So we don't know when it was
called that, but somehow it's in the Bible at
the time of Abraham's movement. And he stopped
there and he built an altar to God. and he called
on the name of the Lord. But then he continued
to journey. Now, as he did, he moved south. Now,
the question is, why would he move south? He's
already in the southern portion of Israel, this
beautiful fertile land, and he'd walked it, or
cameled on it. But why is he going towards Egypt?
And then, as he's going, he discovers that there's
a famine in the land of Canaan. And it was severe.
So, Abraham went down to Egypt. Now, here's what's
interesting. He goes down into Egypt and he tells
his wife, don't tell him you're my wife, otherwise
it's going to go wrong for me. They'll kill me.
So how does he know all that? We don't know.
But we do know that the information of what was
going on in Egypt land was run by this pharaoh
guy who was mean and he was controlling. The
only reason that Abraham was going down there
was because there was a famine and he heard that
there was plenty in Egypt. So he went down there
and it wasn't a good idea. It wasn't the right
idea, I'm sure, but he went down there and God
didn't stop him. So he goes down there and it
goes wrong for the pharaoh, because the pharaoh
sees Sarah, his wife, takes him into his harem
probably, and then he's cursed. Everything goes
bad for the pharaoh. Why is that? Because he
didn't bless the one who he was called to bless.
He didn't necessarily know that. I'm sure Abraham
didn't get close enough to tell him that. But
Abraham was trying to be a blessing there, no
doubt. I have no doubt of that. That he was doing
as God told him. He was joining God in the promise
that he made for him. That's a critical thing.
So anyway, things are going wrong with Pharaoh,
and he realizes that it's because he took Abram's
wife as his own. He was a sister, a distant sister,
but it was kind of deceiving. So anyway, there's
great plagues that happen in the king's quarters,
Spharo, and he moves Abraham out of the land.
But he moves him out of the land, and in the
meantime Abraham had become wealthy, very, very
wealthy. In fact, as we go on, we see that in
Chapter 13 he was very rich in livestock, silver,
and gold. So we see this blessing now. Even though
Abram probably made the wrong decision, probably
God was going to do it in a different way, because
God's not into this violence thing, and yet he
had to scare Pharaoh out of his seat so that
he would release Abram. Abram becomes a type
of the people of Israel because they also came
out of Egypt, out of slavery, from a ruthless
Pharaoh. But they also came out with silver and
gold, which we're going to see much later. Anyway,
so he moves and now he's back at Bethel, but
this time he puts his tent there and he makes
an altar and he calls upon the name of the Lord.
And he and Lot part company because they're both
so rich, have so much livestock that the land
can't handle both of them. So Lot moves towards
Sodom, which was not a good idea, but we're not
following Lot's story. We're following Abram's
story. And Abram, he offered Lot first choice
wherever you go. I'll honor that choice and Lot
chose that because it looked good. It was good
to the eyes. Remember that problem? So Abram
settles in the land of Canaan and Lot just nears
outside of Sodom and that was a wicked place.
It was known for its wickedness. It said great
sinners, the wicked, were against the Lord that
lived there. So they separated and then God has
Abram by himself and he tells them to lift up
your eyes and look from the place where you are.
north, south, east and west, for the land that
you see I will give to you and your offspring
forever." So he's repeating the promise, but
he's even making it more specific. Everything
you can see is going to be yours and your offspring.
It's so important to understand that this is
not just Abraham, it's your offspring. So we
have to follow the line of Abraham because offspring
is Zerah. And we're not done with Zerah. This
continues through the entire Old Testament into
the New Testament, this concept of descendancy
from Adam, and now we're focusing, we're singling
out other children that were born, other sons
that were born, and we're focusing on specific
ones, because it's through Abraham, it's going
to be Isaac, but we haven't gotten there yet.
So, and then he tells him this, I will make your
offspring as the dust of the earth so that if
one could count the dust, your offspring also
could be counted, which is obviously impossible.
So he doesn't have any kids yet, but Abraham's
believing, and he keeps moving, he keeps listening
to God. Then we move on to a very interesting
chapter, chapter 14. So there's a bit of time
that took place between the time he was in Egypt
to this point, and there's this war that took
place. We won't go into the details. But it's
four kings against five kings. One of those kings
is the king of Sodom. And one is the king of
Gomorrah. One is the king of the Goyim, which
means nations. The word Gentiles comes out of
the Hebrew word Goyim. And that doesn't mean
they're bad. It just means they're not Jewish.
They're Gentile nations. By the way, Abraham
wasn't Jewish. His descendants become that way.
That's another story. So, anyway, this kings,
four kings against five kings, and it's a bloody
mess, and I think it was the five succeeded,
and then something happened that got Abraham's
attention, that he was told, he got this messenger
came to his house and said that the enemy has
taken all the possessions of Sodom and Gomorrah,
and they also took Lot, the son of Abram's brother.
It was his nephew, but he's basically raised
him. So from Sodom Lot was taken exile, and his
possessions, and his family. So he's gone, and
Abram's concerned. So when he heard this, it
says in verse 14 that his kinsman has been taken.
That's literally his nephew. He got his trained
men who were born in his house, 318 of them,
and they went in pursuit of Lot, his family,
and his possessions. Now this is separate from
these kings warring against each other. And so
he brought them all back. So this is the thing.
This was not around the corner. He went from
the southern part of Israel, like in the Negev,
all the way up to where the tribe of Dan is,
which is way far north. And there they camped
out. And they came up with a strategy. And then
from there they kept going north into Damascus.
It's a long journey. And this was just to rescue
his son. his step -son, or his nephew, I mean,
who became his son, and his family and their
possessions. Now, I mean, what are the odds?
Well, when God's on your side, apparently, the
odds are pretty much in your favor. And so he
defeated them. He defeated these kings who were
there with all their bounty, probably getting
drunk and having orgies and whatnot. And he interrupted
them. It doesn't say how many were killed or
anything like that. He just defeated them. And
then he brought back all the possessions. and
Lot, his kinsman, along with his possessions,
and the women and the people, which would be
his wife and daughters. Lot's. So after his return,
though, something interesting happens. He's coming
back to where he lived, and he meets two very
interesting characters. The first one is Melchizedek.
Now, if you're a Bible reader, you know that
Melchizedek is an important name. in the Bible.
It's mentioned in the New Testament as well as
a few other places in the Old, mostly in the
Psalms, but then in the New Testament as well,
especially in the book of Hebrews. So he's a
strange character because he has no beginnings
and no ends. We don't know where he came from,
where he's going, where he was born. He's not
in the line of Abram, but he's called the Priest
of God Most High. Salem means peace and Melchizedek
means king, so he's literally the king of righteousness,
the king of peace. Melchizedek, king of righteousness,
king of Salem, king of peace. And yet we know
nothing else about him. And he sees Abraham and
he says this, Blessed be Abram by God Most High,
possessor of heaven and earth. And blessed be
God Most High, who has delivered your enemies
into your hand. And Abram turned around and gave
him a tenth of everything. Tenth. That's like,
that's the first time we see this concept of
tithe. So, why did Abraham do this? There's no
priesthood, there's no law of Moses telling you
you have to do this, but it was in him, he had
knowledge of, foreknowledge of what this meant,
but it was, he was giving him something. Now,
many scholars, if not most, and I'm not a scholar,
but I go along with what I believe is true, is
that Melchizedek, at least all Bible teachers
would say that he is a type of Jesus, But is
he actually Jesus? Well, there are times when
Jesus shows up before his incarnation in the
book of Matthew and Luke. So what do we mean
by that? Well, he was born, he is the seed of
not the woman, he is the seed of God. So he has
no sin in him, but he is the seed of the woman,
which is very strange. So here he is, Jesus.
the descendant, if you follow this genealogy,
of Abraham. Abraham, in a sense, is giving to
Melchizedek, who he's a priest that has no beginning
and no end. And in Hebrews it refers to him much
more clearly, and as well as in the Psalms, that
he's not just a man, he's not just a king. So
if he's just a type of Jesus, well then this
is really not a person. You know, it's a king
that's kind of strange, but why would he show
up? And why would Abram give about 10 % of all
his possessions? Well, I believe he was actually
Jesus. They call that a pre -incarnate theophany
of Jesus, that God shows up. And we'll see this,
that Jesus does show up throughout the Bible
in the Old Testament before he's actually literally
born from Mary. Don't get confused by that. It's
really, it's in the supernatural because, let's
put it this way, Jesus is all God and all man.
How does that work? So it's not all logical,
that's what I'm trying to say. This is why it's
a book of faith. But this is written so that
we would believe. John said at the end of his
book, and there's reason to believe, because
it's what we're intended for, we're designed
for, for faith. So we continue the story, and
we are left with the King of Sodom shows up now.
As soon as the Melchizedek, the King of Righteousness,
King of Peace, takes the tenth that Abraham offered,
and then Abraham is confronted by the king of
Sodom. And he also wants to have a conversation
with him. So before we do, I want to go over
to the next chapter, chapter 15, which we were
going to end pretty soon. But God is further
giving Abraham the confidence he needs, that
what I'm telling you is true. But there's a lot
of opposition, Abraham, that you have to understand.
And this is what life's like now. going back
to, you know, that God blesses him, and the next
scene he has this little altar he builds, but
then after that he goes down to Egypt, which
was the wrong move, and it seemed like it was
going to go bad, specifically for Sarah, his
wife, and Abraham, why did you do this? And he
was there for a long enough time to become wealthy,
but everyone left safely and actually in better
shape. So God redeemed, I'm sure Abraham was
sorry for what he did. So he repented by it,
that's... That's not written in, but it seems
very obvious. And life got better. But then he's
also, you know, he's on the awareness now that
there's some spiritual things going on that he
has to be very mindful of. And he learned that,
I'm sure, a long lesson in Egypt, which was filled
with idolatry. And so were all the Canaanites
as well. But Abraham is singled out to believe,
to live a different kind of life with the one
and only true God. So chapter 14 opens up. After
these things, which was what we just read, and
we're going to go back to that. After these things,
the Word of God came to Abram in a vision, Fear
not, Abram, I am your shield. Your reward shall
be very great. But Abram said, Oh Lord, what
will you give for me? I don't have an heir. I
don't have any sons. This is what I want, a son.
And so he tells him, you know, behold, you're
going to have a son. The Word of the Lord came
to him and said, This man, Eliezer, who's your
servant, he's not your son. He will have a son.
and he will be your heir." And he brought him
outside and he said, look to the heavens, number
the stars, before it was the sand. Number the
stars now. If you're able to number them, so
shall your offspring be. And you know what Abraham
did? It said he believed the Lord and he counted
it to him as righteousness. So my question though,
I kind of ran through this. It said, after these
things, the word of the Lord came to Abraham
in a vision. Fear not, Abraham. I am your shield.
Your reward shall be great. Well, we went from
that scene where Abram took 318 men that were
in his house, and he took them to save his nephew,
he conquered these kings, he came back with his
nephew and all his nephew's possessions, and
his wife and children, and then he meets Melchizedek.
Melchizedek recognizes him, he blesses him, he
brings out wine and bread. Isn't that interesting
too, that this is so typical of Jesus and the
New Covenant? So to me it can't be more clear
that this is Jesus that he gave his tenth to.
But then right after that it says the King of
Sodom said to Abram, give me the persons, but
take the goods for yourself. Now what kind of
statement is that? The King of Sodom was not
on the winning side. He didn't fight this battle
up there in the north to get back Lot and his
possessions and his family. So what does he have
to do with Abram here? And so obviously he was
a man to be feared, the king of Sodom. He was
the king of this wicked land, where wickedness
was prevalent and identified and horrifying.
And I'm sure that it was very fearful to actually
live in that city, as we'll see in Lot's life.
But he says to him as a commandment. Now, Melchizedek
did not tell Abraham to give him anything. He
gave him what he had, the wine and the bread,
and fellowship. Abraham gave him a tenth of everything,
along with his fellowship, and they had this
relationship developing. And then the king of
Sodom shows up, give me the persons, but take
the goods for yourself, as if he's doing them
a favor. But probably, in a sense, this guy was
very fearsome, you know, like I mean bloodthirsty,
like I mean having a knife in your teeth kind
of thirsty. And Abraham, though, courageously
said this, To the King of Sodom he spoke truth
to power. He said, I have lifted my hand to the
Lord, God Most High, Possessor of heaven and
earth, that I would not take a thread or a sandal
strap or anything that is yours, lest you should
say, I have made Abram rich. I will take nothing
but what the young men have eaten and the share
of the men who went with me. So he's just taking
the bare bones, basics for the men who were soldiers
they fought. in battle and lots of possessions.
And the family. There's no way I'm giving you
the people. So this is what Sodom wanted. The
King of Sodom wanted. He wanted the persons.
This is what Satan always wants. He doesn't want
your money. He wants you. And so why do I say
Satan? It says King of Sodom, Paul. How can you
say Satan? Well, we're reading a book that has
real people, real places, but that's also typical.
They're symbolic of other concepts and other
people, like the king Melchizedek, whether or
not he was Jesus. No one said he was Jesus. He
didn't say he was Jesus. I'd be Yeshua. But he
is certainly a type of Yeshua, as well as, I
believe, Yeshua Himself. But if this is the height
of what's going on, if you picture this, Abram
is having a meal with Jesus in this valley. And
then comes the King of Sodom. He's totally opposite
of Melchizedek at the very least. Why couldn't
he be a type of Satan, if not Satan himself?
If Satan could show up on earth at different
times when he did, when he tempted Jesus, why
couldn't he show up at this time, in the beginning
of this redemptive story, in the beginning of
the most, some would say the most important verse
in the Old Testament, which is, I'm going to
make you a blessing to all the families of the
earth. Why couldn't this be the King of Sodom
who steps in to interrupt this process right
before takeoff, and he wants the people? He wants
the people. Why? And then he's going to give,
literally giving what's not his, is the goods.
I'll let you have the goods, as if he owns them.
But he was a threat to Abraham. And that is why,
I believe, when we open up the next chapter,
chapter 15, which we're going to see is an incredibly
super supernatural charged chapter, The chapter
opens up and Abraham is afraid. He's afraid.
And really, the question should be asked immediately
if we're reading carefully. Why would God tell
him not to fear? What's he afraid of? But God
reminds him that, I am your shield, Abraham,
and I am your reward. And it is very great. And
he has to calm him down because what he's about
to tell him is so beyond real, he's going to
give him descendants that are as many as the
stars in the sky. Can you imagine what the sky
looked like when there was no pollution in the
air? And he's telling them to count the stars
if you can. He can't count them because they
appear to be infinite in number. They're countless.
And God said, the Bible says, then he said to
him, so shall your offspring be, just like that.
And the weird thing, it's not weird if you have
faith, but the weird thing, if you don't, is
that he believed the Lord. He had no kids yet,
remember? And God counted it to him as righteousness.
What does that mean? That God saw that Abraham,
it wasn't called Abraham yet, he gets it, he
gets it. That I Am his all in all. I Am the great
I Am. All these things have not been discussed
yet. God was not given all these names yet. But
he's revealing himself to this one man, Abram.
And Abram's believing him against all the odds.
And so his fear was very real. But God came in
and broke the fear. Don't be alarmed by fear,
because we live in a spiritually charged world,
not as charged as it was in the night that God
confronted him after his episode with the King
of Sodom, who very well might have been Satan
himself. But this is how cunning he is. So we're
seeing him act in the garden. We saw what he
did. He forced the exile of the only two people
in the world who were living under the greatest
place ever, and then he... was behind the murder
of the second -born son from his brother, because
he came to it and I said, don't do it. Don't
do it, Cain. Sin crouches at the door. You know,
sin is its embodiment of who Satan is. And that's
what he's saying. He's crouching. You may not
see him, but he's crouching at the door. So this
is the story that we have inherited, and it takes
faith to believe it so that we can continue on,
because this thing moves forward. All of this
stuff that we've read so far, there has to be
an end to it. And it has to be a good ending,
because as we're walking with God, as Enoch did
in the garden, we're recognizing that He's good.
He's good. He's not causing these problems. He's
redeeming them as they show up, but He's allowing
the consequences to unfold. So I hope that's
going to help you to continue on. It's a remarkable
story, but it takes faith to believe it for this
journey that we are now taking. from the garden
into the future, along with Israel, whom he left
off on his way back from kingly. So, shalom and
blessings and lehit rot. Hope to see you soon.
We bless you for taking the time to consider
this message. May it cause you to be fruitful
and effective and lead others along the way with
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