Genesis 17-20

[Jim Watt]

“*TWO ARE BETTER THAN ONE” MINISTRIES*

*Jim & Marie Watt*

*Tel: 253-517-9195 - Email: jmbetter at gmail.com*

*Web: www.2rbetter.org*

April 12, 2011


 *JAN 12 - GENESIS 17-20 - THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT*


 *1. 17:5-6 (17:1-8) ABRAHAMIC COVENANT: CHANGE OF NAME. “Neither shall your
name any more be called Abram (exalted father), but your name shall be
Abraham (father of a multitude); for the father of a multitude of nations
have I made you. 6 And I will make you exceeding fruitful, and I will make
nations of you, and kings shall come out of you.” *How minutely and
perfectly You brought to pass Your Word to Abraham Father. And one day Your
invisible Kingdom, the New Jerusalem, will come down from heaven to
earth! *Hallowed
be Your Name!*


 *2. 17:10 (17:9-17) ABRAHAMIC COVENANT: CIRCUMCISION. “This is my covenant,
which you shall keep, between me and you and your seed after you: every male
among you shall be circumcised.” *A sign always marks the covenant: the sign
of circumcision to this day marks the Abrahamic Covenant, though the Promise
came prior to the law of circumcision. *Your :kingdom come!*


 *3. 17:20 (17:18-27) ABRAHAM AND ISHMAEL. “And as for Ishmael, I have heard
you: behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will
multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he father, and I will make
him a great nation.” *How You honored Abraham, Father, though perhaps it was
not for his own best good that he made this strong request. May we learn to
be careful for what we ask. *Your :will be done, As in heaven, so on earth.*


 *4. 18:19 (18) ABRAHAM AND INTERCESSION. “For I have known him, to the end
that he may command his children and his household after him, that they may
keep the way of Jehovah, to do righteousness and justice; to the end that
Jehovah may bring upon Abraham that which he has spoken of him.” *What
confidence You had in Abraham, Father! It sounds like Your boast to Satan
concerning Job! You knew that You had an intercessor in Abraham! *Our :daily
bread Give us this day.*


 *5. 19:24 (19:1-25) SODOM DESTROYED. “Then Jehovah rained upon Sodom and
upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from Jehovah out of heaven.” *Sexual
perversion is not inherited, but chosen: it is called “*Abomination
*before*Jehovah.”
*Strengthen us in the face of such temptation. *And forgive us our :debts,
as we also have forgiven our :debtors.*


 *6. 19:29 (19:26-38) LOT RESCUED. “And it came to pass, when God destroyed
the cities of the Plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of
the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot
lived.” *Here is the fruit and power of intercession. Reveal to us Father,
the importance of this ministry. Help us through a man like Rees Howells
(Intercessor, by Norman P. Grubb). *And bring us not into temptation.*


 *7. 20:9 (20) ABRAHAM: LAPSE WITH ABIMELECH. “Then Abimelech called
Abraham, and said unto him, What have you done unto us? and in what have I
sinned against you, that you have brought on me and on my kingdom a great
sin? you have done deeds unto me that ought not to be done.” *After all of
the preceding, Abraham still lapsed again! O show us Father, the frailty of
flesh, and that only abiding in You can we find safety! * But deliver us
from the evil one.*


 *NOTE**: *Genesis 17 is the key chapter relating to the Abrahamic Covenant.
Covenant proper has several ingredients connected with it that certifies the
above, and eliminates both Genesis 12 and 15 as being contenders.


 First, Proper Covenant requires a change of name, which took place in
Genesis 17 for Abram and Sarai to Abraham and Sarah. The Hebrew letter
“Chet”, the letter of “life” - was added to their names, and Isaac was
conceived on this miraculous addition. Secondly, a *sign* accompanies true
covenant, which is met in circumcision. Blood is also required, which also
takes place through this sign. Gifts are normally exchanged at this time.
God's gift to Abraham in promise at this time is extraordinary: fruitfulness
in nations; the land of Canaan in perpetuity; Isaac's supernatural birth,
when both parents were barren. Abraham's gift to God was a perfect walk.
E.W. Kenyon in his “Blood Covenant” spells out these conditions admirably. A
curse normally accompanies the making of a covenant, spelling out the
judgment should either side break the conditions.


 The very fact that the entire OT is a Covenant; and also the NT; speaks to
us that God deals with both Israel and the Church in an everlasting covenant
relationship. How can one walk then in relationship with God apart from full
understanding of *Covenant* from God's point of view? 1896 BC is the year of
the Abrahamic Covenant according to to God's Bible Numeric Chronology, and
is here revealed as one of the three foremost dates in all of Bible history
as God sees it.


 Immediately following the establishment of this extremely important
Covenant, God leads Abraham into an Intercessory Mode - which is a model for
both Israel and the Church for all time. Oswald Chambers counts *
Intercession* as *the work* of both the individual and Corporate Bodies.
Rees Howells exemplified this in an extraordinary way. George Muller saw
prayer as our chief privilege and obligation before God.


 But though God spared Lot and his two daughters from the destruction of
Sodom on the basis of Abraham's Intercession - yet Sodom and its pride and
perverse homosexuality experienced a fiery judgment that *should* speak to
cities, nations and individuals yet today. True marriage is established by
God between male and female, *not* “like” sexes, which is an abomination
from God's point of view.


 Was Abraham perfect because he was now in Covenant relationship with God?
Absolutely not! and neither are we - until the time of our Resurrection
following the return of our Lord. At this point, many have entered into
theological error. What Abraham did to Abimelech should be a serious warning
to all of us. And 1 John 1:10 clearly spells out that if we deny sin in our
lives, we make God a liar! God forbid that we enter into such error! J.A.W.


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