Читать книгу Following His Glory - Solomon Aggrey - Страница 6
ОглавлениеChapter 1 - The Voice In The Garden
When God finished creating the heaven and the earth and saw that everything was good, He said, ‘Let us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness, let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth,’ (Genesis 1.26). God gave Adam (mankind) dominion over the whole earth. ‘For you have made him a little lower than the angels, and You have crowned him with glory and honour. You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet.’ (Psalms 8.5-6).
God put Adam in the garden in Eden and told him, ‘Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.’ (Genesis 2.16-17). The devil using the serpent deceived the woman, the wife of Adam. She ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and gave to Adam, her husband to eat. So, they disobeyed God and rebelled against God’s word, and declared themselves independent. As a result, the Spirit of God which had taken residence in them left and they lost their oneness with God.
Even though God knew what had happened, He went to the garden in Eden looking for them. ‘Where are you?’
Adam and Eve had heard the Voice of God walking in the garden and had hid themselves from His presence (Genesis 3.8). Adam replied, ‘I heard Your voice in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.’
The rebellion of Adam and his wife had made them naked before God. God did not tell them to hide themselves, but they hid themselves because they could not endure God’s presence.
‘Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?’
Adam and his wife, Eve, forfeited their unique relationship and communion with God when they sinned. They lost the image and the likeness of God with which they were created. Adam and Eve acquired a different image, a different constitution, and a different nature. They became of the flesh, no longer guided by God’s Spirit but by their own minds, desires and will. Adam and Eve also lost their influence or dominion on earth and the devil took over the dominion of the world.
When Adam and Eve saw they were naked, they covered themselves with fig leaves, but God killed innocent animals and covered them with the tunics, showing them that the way or the platform for direct access to God’s presence had changed (Genesis 3.21). The new way was that man would have to come to God and fellowship with Him through the sacrifice of innocent blood. The blood was the life of the animal, so the blood of the innocent animal in principle was exchanged for the death which sin brought. Adam and Eve were driven out of the garden in Eden. All mankind was at the loins of Adam when he sinned, and came out of Adam’s fallen nature. So, mankind sinned.
The word of the Psalmist implies that God used to visit Adam and Eve in the Garden in Eden. “What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him?” (Psalms 8.4). It would not be incorrect to infer that Adam and God were good friends and they used to take walks together in the Garden in Eden, enjoying some time together before Adam’s fall. Adam therefore might have seen God face to face or seen a form of God’s presence, even though the Bible is silent about it.
The Bible does not tell us of anybody with such a close relationship with God until Enoch, the seventh patriarch. ‘Enoch lived sixty-five years, and begot Methuselah. After he begot Methuselah, Enoch walked with God three hundred years, and had sons and daughters… And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.’ (Genesis 5.21-24). Enoch, walking with God, was consistently close and intimate to such an extent that God shared His heart with him, as a friend. God told Enoch of the whole plan of salvation of mankind, including the flood judgement and the earthly coming of His Son, Jesus.
God showed Enoch the ultimate sacrifice, the Lamb of God, the antitupon of all sacrifices in the Old Testament. Jude, speaking about the patriarch Enoch, says, “Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying:
‘Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousand of His saints to execute judgement on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.’
Jude 1.14-15.
So, the earliest prophecy of the Second Coming of our Lord, Jesus Christ, came from Enoch, the seventh patriarch, about four thousand years before Jesus Christ was born. Enoch tapped far beyond his time, into our time, because he walked closely with the eternal God.
Walking so close with God would have entailed knowing the will, desires and the pleasures of God and living a life of holiness, consecration, and oneness with Him. The prophet Amos questioned, ‘Can two walk together unless they are agreed?’ In other words, one has to have the nature or the image of God to be able to walk with Him.
I believe Enoch literally walked with God in the garden in Eden because it was the place God had a closer relationship with Adam. In that case, Enoch might have been given access to the Garden in Eden, either through visions, dreams and trans-locations. Therefore, Enoch might have seen God face to face or a form of His presence, but the Bible is silent about it (one can find it in extra-biblical books). The way of Access to God had been changed, after the sin of Adam. The way had to go through the sacrifice of an innocent animal. So, what special grace did Enoch have, to walk so close with God as a son of Adam? There was no ‘church’ and no religion. So how did he do it? There might be an ancient way which mankind is not aware of. ‘Thus says the Lord; ‘Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; then you will find rest for your souls.’ (Jeremiah 6.16). I am interested, and would like to know the old path and pursue it.
Enoch lived at the time when sin and wickedness were dominating the world. It was the time some angels, referred to as sons of God, took wives of the daughters of men and produced sons with hybrid DNA, called mighty men and men of renown (Genesis 6.1-4).
Those hybrid sons were giants. They taught mankind wickedness, witchcraft, occultism, war, and many other evil things, so that evil and wickedness were so great on the earth that God grieved He had created mankind. God used Enoch to preach righteousness and bring correctness and repentance to the world at that time. ‘By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, ‘and was not found, because God had taken him’, for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God.’ (Hebrews 11.5). Enoch walked with God after he begot Methuselah. I believe the word of righteousness might have come to Enoch after the birth of Methuselah; how to avert the flood judgement and the final fire judgment. He heard the same Voice that walked in the Garden of Eden looking for Adam and Eve. This time, God was looking for and reaching out to the erring mankind and angels.
Enoch means ‘initiated’ or ‘dedicated’. He was the first preacher of righteousness. He preached to the sinful world, including the fallen angels, about the coming flood judgement. His first-born son was Methuselah. The proper name ‘Methuselah’ means ‘a man of dart’ or ‘a man of javelin,’ but from the roots of the name – Muth, meaning ‘death’ and ‘shalach’ meaning ‘to bring’ or ‘to send forth’ – the name Methuselah could mean ‘his death will bring.’ The Dake Annotated Reference Bible states the meaning as ‘when he is dead it [the deluge] shall come.’ So Enoch named Methuselah prophetically, ‘his death shall bring the flood.’ Methuselah lived 969 years; the longest of all the patriarchs. In the same year that Methuselah died (about 1656 years after Adam), the flood judgement came.
Enoch, as the first preacher of righteousness and repentance, was an example of “the voice of the one crying in the wilderness … make straight in the desert a highway for the Lord.”
‘The voice of the one crying in the wilderness; prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted and every mountain and hill brought low; the crooked places shall be made straight and the rough places smooth; the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together … O Zion, you who brings good tidings, get up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, you who brings good tidings, lift up your voice with strength, lift it up, be not afraid; say to the cities of Judah, ‘Behold your God!’ Behold the Lord God shall come with a strong hand and His arm shall rule for Him; behold His reward is with Him, and His word before Him. He will feed His flock like a shepherd; He will gather the lambs with His arm and carry them in His bosom and lead those who are with young.’
Isaiah 40.3-11
Enoch brought good tidings of Jehovah’s favour to the people of his day. He taught that people should lead righteous lives and change their ways so that God would have mercy on them and not bring judgement upon them. The people of his day did not listen to him.
Apostle Paul also speaks of Enoch, saying, ‘Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, and was not found, because God had taken him, for before he was taken he had this testimony that he pleased God. But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.’ (Hebrews 11.5-6). Enoch was a man of great faith and so committed himself to seeking after God, walking in faith and obedience. He brought the message of the love of God as well as the judgement of God to his generation. Enoch pleased God and was raptured/translated to heaven, without seeing death.
Enoch, the seventh patriarch, symbolises the final remnant before the great and final judgement. He points to the fact that the last perfect or matured sons of God before the Second Coming of Jesus Christ will walk with God so intimately that they will live in two realms (heaven and earth) at the same time. God will be their rest, comfort, and supply in difficult and evil times. Methuselah gave birth to Lamech and Lamech gave birth to Noah. Lamech said of Noah, ‘This one will comfort us concerning our work and the toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord has cursed.’ (Genesis 5.29).
‘Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth … I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping things and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them, but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.’
Genesis 6.5-8.
Methuselah did not walk with God, nor did Lamech, son of Methuselah, but Noah was righteous and walked with God. The Bible says, ‘Noah was a just man, perfect in his generation. Noah walked with God.’ (Genesis 6.9). The meaning of Noah is ‘rest’ or ‘comfort.’ He was the tenth patriarch from Adam, the second preacher of righteousness (2 Peter 2.5) and the second man who walked with God after Adam. Noah, like Enoch, lived in a terrible time; the period of time when violence, wickedness, evil, and sin were dominating the world.
The sins of Enoch’s generation continued into Noah’s days. As mentioned earlier, the sons of God from a previous creation sent to help mankind had married the women of the earth and had children of mixed genealogy called mighty men and men of renown:
‘Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose …There were giants on the earth in those days and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.’
Genesis 6.1-4
The word ‘giants’ in Hebrew is nephilim (from nephil). It originates from a root word, naphal, meaning to fall. So, the giants could be referred to as fallen men, but they were not the same as the fallen angels who rebelled with Satan. They were living alongside mankind in the time of Adam and Eve. The mighty men and the men of renown, children of the sons of God, were people with hybrid DNA. They were half spirits and half human, and were considered as semi-gods. They had superior knowledge and ruled the humans at that time. The names of some of the giants appeared in Greek mythology as Hercules, Jupiter, Pluto, etc.
As I have mentioned above, the mighty men and the men of renown corrupted mankind and taught them fornication, adultery, evil, wickedness, war, murder, occult science, witchcraft etc.
‘Wickedness of man was great in the earth and every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil …the earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.’
Genesis 6.5, Genesis 6.11
Violence was and is one of the original characteristics of Satan. ‘By the abundance of your trading you became filled with violence within, and you sinned; therefore I cast you as a profane thing, out of the mountain of God …’ (Ezekiel 28.16). The world, in the time of Enoch through to Noah, was trading on the same platform as the devil, as it does today.
The root of the problem was the fact that the original human DNA was corrupted. If the activities of the mighty men and the men of renown were not stopped, the human race was doomed. ‘So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.’ (Genesis 6.12). The devil might have intended to corrupt and destroy the seed of the woman through whom the Messiah would come. The flood judgement wiped out the mighty men and men of renown, but they found their way back to the earth and were referred to as Anak (Numbers 13.22, Joshua 15.13), Rephaims, Zumins, Emim (Genesis 14.5), Zamzummims (Deuteronomy 2.20).
‘All flesh had corrupted their way on the earth’ but ‘Noah was a just man, perfect in his generation. Noah walked with God.’ (Genesis 6.9). The Hebrew word for perfect is tamiym. It means complete, entire, sound, and whole. It indicated that Noah’s DNA code was not corrupted or tainted. Noah had been able to separate and preserve himself from the sorcery, witchcraft, occultism and the corruption of his day. He had the perfect genetic code through which the seed of the woman (Jesus Christ) would come.
‘And God said to Noah, ‘The end of all flesh has come before me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold I will destroy them with the earth. Make yourself an ark of gopher-wood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with pitch.’’
Genesis 6.13-14
‘By faith Noah, being divinely warned of the things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of righteousness which is according to faith.’
Hebrews 11.7
Noah was warned of the flood judgement because of his walk with God. ‘Things not yet seen’ included ‘the flood.’ Scripture in Genesis 2 suggests that there had not been any rain or flood before that time, so both Enoch and Noah had no physical knowledge of the flood except for what God told them or what they might have seen spiritually. They had to take the prophecy of the flood judgement by faith. Enoch therefore was the father of faith and righteousness and Noah the heir. Enoch mentored Noah; to put it another way, the mantle of Enoch fell upon Noah. They both were teachers or preachers of righteousness and they both walked with God.
God destroyed all living creatures on earth in the flood judgement except Noah, his family and samples of each kind of all living creatures, male and female. When the flood subsided, Noah and his family came out of the ark and started the human race again. God made a rainbow covenant with Noah that He was not going to destroy the world again by flood. The new race began to multiply and build cities and nations. But mankind, left to itself without the Spirit of God, could not produce a government like that of the kingdom of heaven, so they created various imitation governmental structures and systems to govern themselves; none of them perfect. The seed of chaos and darkness through Adam was already embedded deep in mankind and man could only produce his kind.
When the Bible says that ‘Noah was a just man, perfect in his generation. Noah walked with God,’ it does not include Noah’s wife, nor his children and their wives. Therefore, there were traces of corruption still on the face of the earth. ‘And Noah begot three sons; Shem, Ham and Japheth.’ Out of the three sons, Ham showed a tainted nature or DNA, the source of which might have come from the corruption of his day.
After the flood, Noah planted a vineyard, became drunk with wine and uncovered himself. His son, Ham, dishonoured his father by not covering his father’s nakedness, and Noah cursed him.
‘Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants he shall be to his brethren … Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem, and may Canaan be his servant. May God enlarge Japheth and may he dwell in the tents of Shem; and may Canaan be his servants.’
Genesis 9.26-27
God made Shem the head of his brothers and the carrier of the promised seed, family blessing, and promise, and Ham the least.
Canaan was the fourth son of Ham (Genesis 10.6). So, the curse of Ham was to be fulfilled in the life of Canaan and his descendants. The descendants of Shem would have to wait until the iniquity of the Amorites (seed of Ham) was full and ready for judgement before the blessing of Shem could be realised (Genesis 15.16).
According to the Scripture the sons of Ham were Cush (Sudanese and Ethiopians), Mizraim (Egyptians), Put (Lybians) and Canaan (Sidonians, Hittites, Jebusites, Amorites, Girgashites, Hivites, Arkites, Sinites, Arvadites, Zemarites and the Hamathites) (Genesis 10.6, 15-18). All the people who lived on the land of Canaan, which God gave to the descendants of Shem, were the descendants of Canaan. The land of Canaan was the very place the Nephilim, the mighty men and the men of renown, reappeared, so they might have been connected to the descendants of Ham.
Noah was 500 years old when he begot his three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth (Gen 5.32). He was 600 years old when the flood came (Genesis 7.6). So, for about 100 years Noah was building the ark and preaching righteousness. The Bible indicates that the divine longsuffering waited while the ark was being prepared, but only eight people were saved from the water of judgement, the family of Noah, even though there was a Voice in the wilderness calling all the people to repentance for about 100 years (1 Peter 3.20).
Noah heard the same Voice Adam heard and Enoch heard in the garden in Eden and also became a teacher and preacher of righteousness. ‘Repent, turn to the Lord. Change your ways. Change your image. Judgement is coming. The Lord is gracious, He will pardon, He will forgive if you turn to Him again.’ Elijah cried in his day, ‘How long will you falter between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal follow him …’ (1 Kings 18.21).
Why did the people not listen to Noah? First, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil had conditioned them to look at things around them only from the natural and the flesh’s point of view. What is this old man talking about? His mind is not working properly. Everything seems alright. Why is he talking about rain and judgement?
The same attitude is still with us. Peter said, ‘Knowing this first; that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lust and saying, ‘Where is the promise of His coming?’ For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation. For this they wilfully forget that by the word of God the heavens were of old …’ (2 Peter 3.3-4).
Secondly, the people in Noah’s day didn’t approach the message with humility and faith. They could not believe that there would be such a rain and flood. It seemed so unnatural and unrealistic. Thirdly, they continued with the rebellious nature of Adam. Fourthly, their culture had changed; their identity had nothing to do with God; fifth and finally, there were powerful sources, mighty men and the men of renown at the background, releasing demonic powers to enslave the people in their flesh. All these things are happening in our time.
‘As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the son of Man. They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them.’ In the last days there will also be powerful, corrupt, demonically inspired entities, hybrids, serpentine seed or reptilian seed, who will work hard to control and enslave mankind in his flesh and sin; who will teach mankind ways of destruction and violence. Some of these entities are with us today. What do you think is the origin of the rise of sexual promiscuity, homosexuality, gay marriages, occultism, witchcraft, and abortion? All these things have been introduced demonically into our society and all of them have crept into the normal church life of today.
The ark in which Noah’s family was saved was a means to their salvation and therefore a shadow of Christ. ‘But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God – and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.’ (1 Corinthians 1.30)
After the flood judgement, the first thing Noah did was to build an altar and sacrifice of the clean animals as burnt offering to the Lord. ‘Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean animal and every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.’ (Genesis 8.20).
Each of the clean species of animals was precious and the only surviving ones on earth. Noah could have expressed his thankfulness in many ways other than sacrificing the surviving clean animals. Like Abel, Noah was righteous and acted in faith. He knew God is most holy and worthy of the best. He knew he could not please God, worship Him and have access to God any other way except through the blood sacrifice. The sacrifices of Abel and Noah were shadows of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
God was pleased with what Noah did. ‘And the Lord smelled a soothing aroma. Then the Lord said, ‘I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake … nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done.’’ (Genesis 8.21-22). He blessed Noah and his household; ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.’ (Genesis 9.2). Through Noah’s family the world became populated again. But man, in his fallen state, continued in sin and depended on the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and not on the Spirit of God.
There was a need for a new group of people or race which will have close relationship and communion with God in order for God’s purpose and will to be fulfilled on earth. God’s sovereign choice fell on Abram, a descendant of Shem, to whom the promise was given. Abram was the 21st patriarch after Adam. God appeared to Abram in the pagan city of ‘Ur of the Chaldees’ in Mesopotamia (Genesis 11.31, Acts 7.2) and commanded him to leave his country and family to a place He would show him, and He would make him a great nation and through him all the families of the earth would be blessed (Genesis 12.1-3). Abram and family obeyed God and travelled over a thousand miles, through Haran and Damascus, to the land of Canaan.
‘Brethren and fathers, listen: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran, and said to him, ‘Get out of your country and from your relatives, and come to a land that I will show you.’ Then he came out of the land of the Chaldeans and dwelt in Haran. And from there, when his father was dead, He moved him to this land in which you now dwell.’
Acts 7.2-4
Stephen revealed that God called Abraham and gave him the promise when he was serving idols and living in the Ur of the Chaldees. Abram was to begin a new life, a new season, and birth a new godly nation through whom the divine promise, the seed of the woman who would bless the whole world, would come forth. In that completely new setting Abram had to forsake everything; his home, his family, his people, his culture and his country. He had to cut off from his past and all of its influences. He could not bring any of them into his new life.
The wife of Abram, Sarai, was barren and could not give birth to a son in Ur of the Chaldees. Ten years after the promise of God to Abram and Sarai, they were still without the promised son. When Abram complained, God told him to look at the stars. ‘So shall your descendants be.’ And Abram believed the Lord and He accounted it to him for righteousness” (Gen 15.5-6). Abraham walked in great faith; leaving his country and family to an unknown destination and by offering his promised son, Isaac, as a sacrifice to God (Hebrews 11.8, Hebrews 11.17). He became the father of faith both for the circumcised and the uncircumcised; the Jews, the church and the Gentiles.
However, Sarai gave her Egyptian maid to Abram, and they had a son and named him Ishmael. The Egyptians were descendants of Mizraim, the son of Ham who was cursed by Noah. Ishmael could not be part of the seed-line of the promise, who would bruise the head of the serpent. He was born out of the flesh and out of slavery (Galatians 4.21-27) and therefore could not be the lineage of the promise of Shem or the promise of the son of God. ‘All the families of the earth will be blessed’ and not be cursed. Ishmael was a mix-seed, and God wanted a pure seed.
God cut a covenant with Abram and said, ‘Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years and also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterwards they shall come out with great possessions.’ (Genesis 15.13-15). Although God had previously spoken to Abram in visions, in Genesis 17, the Bible writes, ‘When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, ‘I am Almighty God (El Shaddai); walk before Me and be blameless.’’ (Genesis 17.1).
Abram was then very old, incapable of having children. Jehovah appeared to him previously, but this time God introduced Himself by a different name. He introduced Himself as El Shaddai, the All Sufficient God. ‘Walk before Me and be blameless.’ The Hebrew word ‘before’ is paniym. Paniym means ‘face’ or ‘presence.’ So, the passage can be read as ‘Walk or live in my face or in my presence and be blameless.’ The word blameless is the same Hebrew word, tamiym, translated as perfect in connection with Noah; meaning complete, entire, sound, and whole. ‘Noah was a just man, perfect [tamiym] in his generation.’ Noah did not have any corruption in his DNA or in his character as the people of his generation. After Noah, the world returned again to the heart of wickedness, evil and violence.
God needed another tamiym like Noah to birth a new seed-line. Abraham and his seed had to maintain a pure genetic code; unmixed with the corruption of the world. How was God going to cleanse the world from corruption if he was not going to destroy the world by the flood?
God had already prepared an answer for that contingency. ‘Then Melchizedek, king of Salem brought bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High.’ (Genesis 14.18). Melchizedek was, according to Hebrews chapter seven, ‘without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but, made like the Son of God, remains a priest continually.’ (Hebrews 7.3).
‘Without father and mother’ means Melchizedek had no Adamic issues to deal with. In other words, he did not have corrupt DNA. Melchizedek was perfect (tamiym), like Noah. He was made like the Son of God, but He was not the Son of God. When Abram received the bread and the wine from Melchizedek, he gave him his tithe. Paul writes, ‘Here mortal men receive tithes, but there he receives them, of whom it is witnessed that he lives. Even Levi, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham, so to speak, for he was still in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him.’ (Heb 7.8-10).
The seed of Abraham was in his loins when he paid tithe to Melchizedek. So, the seed also paid tithe to Melchizedek and therefore shared and partook of the bread and wine from Melchizedek. The true meaning of the bread and wine which Melchizedek gave to Abraham was not revealed until Jesus Christ came. Just before He died, Jesus Christ took bread and broke it and said, ‘Take, eat, this is my body.’ He took the cup containing the wine and said, ‘Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant which is shed for the remission of sins.’ (Matthew 26.26-28).
Jesus continued, ‘I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh which I shall give for the life of the world … Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is food indeed and My blood is drink indeed.’ (John 6.51-56).
The Bible says, ‘Many of His disciples, when they heard this said, ‘This is a hard saying, who can understand it?’ Who could eat the flesh and drink the blood of humans except idol worshippers? However, Jesus Christ was referring to His perfect DNA which He carried in His body and blood. The Word was implanted into the womb of the mother of Jesus, Mary, when the Holy Spirit overshadowed her. Jesus also did not have an earthly father or seed but God’s seed. He was and is without sin and had a perfect DNA, like the first Adam before his fall (Hebrews 4.15). Abraham and his seed shall partake of the perfect image and likeness of God through Jesus Christ. That was the power in the bread and the wine which Melchizedek gave to Abraham. The understanding of which was far beyond Abram’s time and stretched into our time. ‘Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.’ (John 8.56, Rom 8.29).
Through Abraham a pure DNA code was maintained and transferred to his seed. ‘Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made.’ He does not say, ‘And to Seeds,’ as of many, but as of one, ‘And to your Seed,’ who is Christ (Galatians 3.16). Jesus Christ on the earth inherited the promise of Abraham, and through Him all the families of the earth will be saved.
We are the seed of Abraham through Christ and therefore we must also maintain a pure DNA, walk before God and be blameless to inherit the promise; ‘And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.’ (Galatians 3.29). Abraham ‘waited for the city which has foundation, whose builder and maker is God.’ That city was heaven. Those who would inherit heaven must walk blameless before God, perfect and pure without any DNA corruption. This is an eternal message to the church of today.
Enoch and Noah walked with Elohim, but Abraham walked before El Shaddai. Just as Noah and his seed were saved from the flood judgement, so Abraham and his seed will be saved from future judgements if they walked in God’s face (tamiym) blameless. ‘Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will.’ (Ephesians 1.4-5).
God told Abram, ‘And I will make My covenant between Me and you and will multiply you exceedingly … My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations … As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. And I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be from her.’ (Genesis 17.2-16). The Lord, the I AM, breathed Himself into their names and changed their names; from Abram to Abraham and from Sarai to Sarah. Abraham means ‘father of many nations’ and Sarah means ‘mother of nations.’ The change of names was very important because it gave them new identities; earthly people with changed DNA.
God waited for the time both Abraham and Sarah were incapable of having children because the seed was to be a promised seed, of faith, supernatural and not of the natural. Both Abraham and Sarah thought that Ishmael was going to fulfil the promise. But God said, ‘No, Sarah your wife shall bear a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him.’ (Genesis 17.19). Isaac must be the son of Abraham and not the son of Abram.
‘By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised. Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born as many as the stars of the sky in multitude – innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore.’ (Hebrews 11.11-12). Isaac, the promised son born out of faith, was like a resurrection son, a type of Christ. Unlike Ishmael, the seed of Isaac came through the circumcision (cutting of the foreskin) of Abraham.
Scripture says that Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. And he was called the friend of God (James 2.23, 2 Chronicles 20.7). God Himself called Abraham His friend (Isaiah 41.08). It means Abraham did not just walk in God presence, but he also walked with God as a friend. In other words, Abraham had a very close relationship and fellowship with El Shaddai, just as Enoch and Noah had with Elohim.
God Himself said, ‘Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing …?’ Abraham interceded on behalf of Sodom and Gomorrah as a friend of God and also as a priest. Abraham, like Enoch, received the revelation of God’s plan of salvation for mankind through Jesus Christ. Jesus told the Jews, ‘Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.’ (John 8.56). Therefore, Abraham like Enoch and Noah lived beyond his time. As a friend of God, Abraham might have seen God’s face, but was silent about it.
Of the three patriarchs Enoch, Noah and Abraham, who were perfect and walked with God, it was only Abraham with whom God made an everlasting covenant which included his seed. ‘This is my covenant which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants [seed] after you: Every male child among you shall be circumcised; and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you.’ (Genesis 17.11)
The Hebrew word for sign is ‘owth’ (oth). It means signal, flag, beacon, mark, standard, memorial, omen, and symbol. For Noah and the future generation, the sign was a rainbow. It showed the mercy and the love of God to mankind at the same time pointing to something new; a new way of dealing with corruption. For Abraham and his seed, the sign of the covenant was circumcision.
Circumcision was a pointer to a new way of holiness and to their destiny as a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Every seed of this nation must pass through circumcision. Why? It is a sign of not walking in the flesh but walking in the Spirit. ‘To be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace … they that are in the flesh cannot please God.’ (Romans 8.6-8).
The Bible says Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. It was possible that other nations were practising some form of circumcision. But God said, ‘He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised, every male child in your generation …’ ‘Then Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him.’ (Gen 17.12, Gen 21.4).
Why the eighth day? Science has proven that in a newly born child the blood has no clotting ability. Therefore, any form of bleeding may prove fatal. In modern times the medics may give vitamin K to a new-born child to initiate production of the blood coagulating protein, called prothrombin. In the 20th century, it was scientifically acknowledged that prothrombin is at its highest level, throughout the life of the person, on the eighth day. So, God, as the Creator, was way ahead of modern science.
Circumcision involved the cutting off of the foreskin of the male genital organ. It is the sign or the mark of separation of the heart from the things of the flesh and the world (Romans 2.28-29). It was the sign that they were tamiym, just as God had told their father Abraham, a sign that they were God’s people. The seed of Abraham would cast a shadow on the earth, or become God’s image on earth, through whom the whole world would be blessed and be reconciled to God.
The covenant with Abraham also included the Promised Land, which was a picture of heaven. ‘Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are – northward, southward, eastward and westward; for all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants forever.’ (Genesis 13.14-15). Bible says the Lord appeared to Isaac, the son of Abraham, when he decided to go to Egypt in the time of famine, saying, ‘Do not go to Egypt; live in the land of which I shall tell you. Dwell in this land and I will be with you and bless you; for to you and your descendants I give all these lands and I will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham your father. And I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven; I will give to your descendants all these lands; in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept my charge, My commandments, My statutes and My laws.’ (Genesis 26.2-5).
Before the Mosaic Law was enacted, Abraham knew about the charge of the Lord, the commandments, the statutes, and the law, and kept them to the pleasure of God. So, the commandments, the statutes and the law could be seen as a shadow of God’s own image. In them God revealed His nature. The blessing of Isaac, Jacob and the children of Israel was due to the sacrifice of one man, Abraham. ‘Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, ‘And to seeds, as of many, but as of one, ‘And to your Seed’, who is Christ.’ (Galatians 3.16). So, through the Seed, Jesus Christ, the Seed of the woman, the whole family of the earth is blessed.
The Bible does not mention in what form El Shaddai appeared to Abraham. The same God appeared to Isaac and introduced Him, ‘I am the God of your father Abraham, do not fear, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your descendants for My servant Abraham’s sake.’ (Genesis 26.24). Again, the Bible does not tell us in what form El Shaddai appeared to Isaac.
Isaac also begot twins, Esau and Jacob. Esau was the elder, but it was Jacob who by divine choice carried the seed of promise. Jacob gave birth to 12 sons and those sons became the fathers of the twelve tribes of Israel. The same God, El Shaddai, appeared to Jacob as he fled from his brother Esau.
‘So he came to a certain place and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. And he took one of the stones of that place and put it at his head, and he lay down in that place to sleep. Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And behold, the Lord stood above it and said; “I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants. Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’
Genesis 28.11-14
Jacob perceived, ‘This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.’ (Gen 28.17). He called the place Bethel, the house of God. Here again the Abrahamic covenant was confirmed and renewed in Jacob. The same promise given to Abraham applied to Isaac and Jacob. When Jacob returned to Bethel, after 20 years in exile, God told him to build an altar to the God who appeared to him when he fled from Esau, his brother. ‘And he (Jacob) built an altar there and called the place El Bethel (God of the house of God) because there God appeared to him when he fled from the face of his brother.’ (Genesis 35.7).
The Hebrew word for ‘appeared’ used in Genesis 35 verse 7 is ‘galah,’ meaning to uncover, unveil and to reveal. The word suggests the idea of the exposure of one’s nakedness. So, at Bethel, God uncovered Himself to Jacob. In other words, God revealed a mystery about Himself. First, there was a gulf, a chasm between the earth and the heaven. Secondly, the chasm was bridged by a ladder or staircase on which one could ascend step by step to God. Third, angels were ascending and descending on the staircase. Fourth, God stood at the top of the staircase.
The earth can be seen as representing man. Man is essentially dust, earth. There was a gulf separating man and God and His kingdom. Jesus, referring to Jacob’s revelation, said that, ‘hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.’ (John 1.51). Jesus therefore solved the mystery of the nakedness of God; that He, Jesus Christ, was the staircase Jacob saw in his dream. In other words, nobody can see who God really is except through Jesus Christ. When God uncovers Himself, He reveals Jesus Christ, the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person. The angels are the ministering spirits sent forth to minister the grace and love of God on earth (Hebrews 1.14).
Jacob stayed at the place of revelation all night because the sun had set. ‘The sun had set’ may refer to the last days or the end times. In the end times God will uncover Himself and reveal Jesus Christ in a special way that His people might have greater access to the King and His kingdom. In the end times angelic ministry will increase and people will live under open heaven.
God, in El Bethel, confirmed the change of name He had earlier effected in Jacob. ‘Your name is Jacob; your name shall not be called Jacob anymore, but Israel shall be your name.’ (Genesis 35.10). Jacob means ‘heel catcher, supplanter’ and Israel means ‘he who wrestles with God’ or ‘Prince of God.’ So Jacob’s identity was also changed to reflect his assignment. ‘Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men and have prevailed.’ (Genesis 32.28). The MKJV version says, ‘For like a prince you have power with God and with men.’ Israel as a prince of God shall prevail in prayer with God and over all its enemies on earth.
Looking prophetically at Enoch, Noah, and Jacob in the reverse order, Jacob represents a sinful generation, needing a Mediator, Jesus Christ, between it and heaven; Noah represents the righteous saved by the grace of Jesus Christ; by the ark or the wood of His death; while Enoch represents the cleansed, matured and prepared bride of Jesus Christ. In Enoch we see the catching up of the saints, when the church had not yet been born. Amazing!
Mankind has to go full circle. ‘As it was at the beginning, so shall it be at the end.’ We shall be like the first Adam before his fall. This is God who declares the end from the beginning and from ancient times things that are not yet done (Isaiah 46.10). There was a Voice of God which walked in the garden in Eden when Adam sinned. The same Voice came to Enoch, to Noah, to Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob, to Moses, and to other powerful prophets like Elijah, Isaiah, etc. until finally, the Word, Jesus Christ became flesh. The same Voice continues as the Voice in the wilderness calling people to repentance and return to the kingdom. ‘Repent, the kingdom of God is at hand.’
