868 - Les Feldick Bible Study - Lesson 1 Part 4 Book 73 - Theophanies - Part 4

https;//lesfeldickbiblestudy.com Through the Bible with Les Feldick LESSON 1 * PART 4 * BOOK 73 THEOPHANIES: GOD THE SON APPEARING IN HUMAN FORM - 4 Genesis 17:1 and Various Other Scriptures Again, I want to thank all you folks for coming in and making this possible. For those of you out in television, again we never want to forget to thank you for everything. Your loyalty and your faithfulness—how we appreciate that. All right, we’re going to keep right on going on the Theophanies today. I think we can finish up most of them. We’re going to jump back to where we left off in Genesis chapter 26 with Isaac. And the reason I’m using this is because again the word is used that the Lord “appeared” to him. Genesis 26:2a “The LORD appeared unto him, and said, Go not down into Egypt;” Plain language? Can’t get any plainer, can it? Go not down into Egypt. All right, now here’s where people get curves thrown at them. They say, “Well, the Scripture contradicts itself.” Well, on the surface maybe it does. But God changes His program from time to time. Now come back with me just for comparison sake to chapter 46, where God doesn’t give us a theophany. He, in a vision, speaks to Jacob. Now this is interesting. On the one hand, face-to-face with Isaac, He says don’t you go down into Egypt. You stay back here in Canaan, and I’ll take care of you. But now 100 years later look at the difference. Genesis chapter 46 and we’ll start at verse 1, just for comparison sake. Genesis 46:1 “And Israel took his journey with all that he had, and came to Beersheba, and offered sacrifices unto the God of his father Isaac.” This is all down in what today is called the Negev. This is that area south of Jerusalem, south even of Hebron, which is due east of Egypt. Genesis 46:2-3 “And God spake unto Israel (that is Jacob) in the visions of the night, and said, Jacob, Jacob. And he said, Here am I. (Now watch verse 3.) 3. And he said, I am God, the God of thy father: fear not to go down into Egypt; (For what reason?) for I will there (in Egypt) make of thee a great nation:” Opposite directions? Just as opposite as you can get. On the one hand Isaac is told you stay here in Canaan. Don’t even think about going down into Egypt, because Egypt was the world. That’s where later on the nation in general got in trouble. Because if they heard of a Babylonian invasion, who would they run to for help? Well, the Egyptians. If they thought the Egyptians were invading, who would they run to for help? The Syrians. And God said you don’t need outside help. You rely on Me. But now here God has the whole plan of the establishment of the Nation of Israel. While they were under slavery in Egypt is when they really became a Nation. So, if it ever comes up in your Sunday school class or a discussion about where did the Nation of Israel really come together – it’s while they were in Egypt. And then when the Nation is now well on its way, all the tribes are established. Then God raises up Moses. He sends Moses in to bring the Children of Israel out of Egypt. If you noticed in the programs lately, I made the point that when they came out of Egypt did they come out like a bunch of ragtag know-nothings? No. They were what. Organized. Every tribe had its own banner, its own standard. And when they encamped, it was always in the same order—Judah to the east, and then three tribes and three tribes and so forth. But just for the sake of comparison now, yes, God told Isaac go NOT down into Egypt. Then He turns around and He tells Jacob to fear not, because after all food was down there; Joseph was down there. And God knows that the Nation will begin to appear under slavery in Egypt. All right, now then, if we can come back to chapter 26 for a little bit. Reading on in verse 3 the instructions to Isaac are: Genesis 26:3 “Sojourn (or remain) in this land, (That is the land of Canaan, up there between the Mediterranean and the Jordan.) and I will be with thee, and I will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I swear unto Abraham thy father:” Now to me, the very fact that He’s standing there before Isaac as one man to another, this makes it all the more believable than if it would have been a vision or if it would have been a prophet. This is from God Himself. He means what He says. It’s going to happen. And it did, see? Exactly as God has promised here to Isaac, the Nation of Israel received those covenant promises, and they began to grow in numbers and in occupying the land of promise. All right, now you go on through these succeeding verses. We won’t take time to read all of them, but come all the way down to verse 23. Of course, in the meantime he’s had that run-in with Abimelech over his beautiful wife Rebecca. #LesFeldick #BibleStudy #Bible