The Answer of Eternity and Sanctuary that Isaac Enjoyed (Genesis 26:12-25) 2/11/2024
Eternal Answer of the 1st 2nd 3rd RUTC:
The Answer of Eternity and Sanctuary that Isaac Enjoyed (Genesis 26:12-25) 2/11/2024
If we can enjoy the answers and blessings that Isaac enjoyed, it will not matter how challenging this world is. Even if darkness covers the earth and incomprehensible conflicts, problems, and suffering continue, those things will come as greater blessings. In the end, through this answer and blessing, we will be used to save crumbling churches, fields, and the posterity to save 237 nations and 5000 people groups. There are three representative answers and blessings that Isaac enjoyed throughout his life. He is the model of the answers and blessings that we will enjoy.
First, when famine struck Canaan, he went down to the land where the Philistines lived to grow crops. That year, he received a hundred-fold (12). For a shepherd who used to ten sheep to growing cops is a great challenge. However, Isaac looked upon God as he farmed, and God blessed this Isaac. No matter how difficult the economy is, if God blesses us, we can become truly wealthy like Isaac (economy of light, economy of missions, economy of future). This is a life of enjoying the eternal inheritance that God gives.
Second, Isaac was facing conflicts with the Philistines from their jealousy, but he was able to yield everything. It was not that he had to yield because he lacked power. God gave him something deeper (“the source of wells”) and something greater (“Rehoboth”). Even if he yielded, he lost nothing. If you experience such answers from God, you are able to share and give freely. That becomes God’s masterpiece.
Third, the king of Philistine and leaders came to Abraham and acknowledged, “you are blessed by the Lord.” This was the blessing of conclusion. Unbelievers and enemies who used to give you a hard time, acknowledged. It was not only human enemies. The forces of darkness that deceives our lives and brings us suffering will crumble (Deuteronomy 33:29, Romans 16:20). Isaac was sworn to that they will never bring harm to him again. He makes a feast for them and sent them away peacefully. This land was named, “Beersheba” (“7 wells,” “well of the treaty”), and this brings tremendous meaning for later on. To this day, the region of Beersheba becomes the border of southern Israel. It became an eternal inheritance that was relayed to future generations.
We must hold onto the three mysteries by which Isaac was able to enjoy this answer and blessing.
- This answer and blessing was something rightful for a saved person of God to enjoy.
1) This blessing is what God promised as he chose Abraham and sent him to Canaan (5 blessings we shared about last week) There was no other condition. God told him to go to the land that he has prepared and will show. That was the land where Christ was to come. “Go to Canaan” and “live in this land” (2) means to remain in Christ’s covenant. As the true priest, he freed us (Romans 8:1-2), as the true king he destroyed the work of Satan (1John 3:8), and as the true prophet he became our eternal way (John 14:6). This is where all life’s problems end (John 19:30).
2) What answers and blessings did God promise if Isaac stayed in Canaan? (3-4)
① God told him, “I will be with you.” If God is with us, our lives, and in all the things that we do, then who can block us? If you can realize that God is with you and can enjoy that 24 hours, then there is nothing for you to fear. He has prepared our way (7 journeys), he accompanies us (7 guide signs), and he gives us victory over the world (7 bartizans).
② “I will bless you and to you and your descendants, I will give all these lands” It means he will bless us so that we can conquer the world and live a life that saves others. He will give us evidence to be witnesses to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). All the answers that Isaac enjoyed were God’s promises fulfilled. All we need to do is hold onto this promise, believe in it, and enjoy it (Isaiah 55:11).
③ “All nations on earth will be blessed through you.” According to God’s promise, Christ comes as a descendant of Abraham and Isaac (Galatians 3:16), and that gospel reached us. We must now relay this gospel to the net generation. That is why we focus on remnant ministry (Sunday School, Summit School, Preschool).
- This blessing had no choice but to be fulfilled in Isaac’s life and was something necessary and inevitable.
1) Before God fulfilled answers and blessings for Isaac, there was a covenant that He made with Abraham. As he commanded Abraham to be circumcised, God said to Abraham, “I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you” (Genesis 17:7). This is where infant baptism came from. There are tremendous blessings to be enjoyed by people who have been chosen from the womb and baptized as infants.
2) Abraham did at least three things to relay to Isaac the covenant and blessings that he held onto.
① God said to Isaac, “I will confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham” (3). As God gave his covenant, he swore an oath. Abraham believed. God fulfilled according to that faith. It was Abraham’s faith. It was necessary (1John 5:10). That is why the covenant and faith that the parents hold onto are so important. It becomes fulfilled in the lives of their posterity.
② It says, “because Abraham obeyed me and did everything I required of him, keeping my commands, my decrees and my instructions” (5). Abraham moved and followed the Word as God gave him the Word. It was Abraham’s obedience. Do not be shaken by people, circumstance, and reality, but meditate upon the Word, follow the Word, and train a life that obeys the Word (Psalm 103:17).
③ it says, “I will bless you and will increase the number of your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham” (24). God referred to Abraha, as his servant. That is why living as servants of God and church officers is important. There are prayers and devotions made in those positions. None of it will fall to the ground. It will become eternal answers (Matthew 10:42, 1Corinthians 15:58).
- This answer and blessings were something absolute, which had no choice but to come as works of transcending time and space and unprecedented works in Isaac’s life. Isaac made mistakes life his father and was weak as ever (Genesis 26:6-11). Isaac knew that about himself. So he always meditated upon the Word (Genesis 24:63), and called on the name of the Lord and built an altar (worship) during important times (25). This is the blessing of sanctuary.
1) Meditate on the Word so that the Word becomes imprinted in you and begins to dominate you (bartizan of meditation). You will be able to experience the 7 journeys. Secular meditation is about emptying yourself. Meditation is filling yourself with the Word and remaining inside the Word always (John 15:7). You need to have a time of meditation for the Word to become imprinted. Only when it is imprinted will the Word become your standard of thoughts in times of problems, crises, and conflicts.
2) Cherish the time of worship and become a person that devotes to worship (bartizan of worship). You will be able to experience the 7 bartizans. Make worship most valuable to you. Then you are making God the most valuable to you. Prepare for worship in advance (plan and preparation for worship). Through that worship, God of the heavenly throne works upon us and mobilizes his heavenly army.
3) Prepare yourself to be able to save your field (school, work, business, region). You will be able to experience the 7 guide signs. The Philistine king and the people around him become changed. Continue to break down the darkness and pray. That is evangelism. Proclaiming the gospel to the ends of the earth for new works to arise is God’s conclusion (Matthew 24:14). Absolute answers have no choice but to come.
Conclusion – May you hold the covenant and raise up the three bartizans in this difficult age so that the answers that Isaac enjoyed become our eternal answers.