14 - There's Always a Reward
Genesis 22
13. Then Abraham noticed a ram caught by its horns in a bush.
So he took the ram and sacrificed it, instead of his son,
as a burnt offering on the altar.
14. Abraham named the place "Jehovah provides" - and it still goes
by that name to this day.
15. Then the Angel of God called again to Abraham from heaven.
16. "I, the Lord, have sworn by myself that because you have obeyed me
and have not withheld even your beloved son from me,
17. I will bless you with incredible blessings and multiply your
descendants into countless thousands and millions, like the stars above
you in the sky, and like the sands along the seashore. They will
conquer their enemies,
18. and your offspring will be a blessing to all the nations of
the earth - all because you have obeyed me."
19. So they returned to his young men, and traveled home again to
Beer-sheba.
LB
Just as there are Generational Curses which flow from a disobedient
lifestyle, there are also Generational Blessings which are the result
of being obedient to God.
These are the rewards that God promised Abraham's descendents:
there would be countless numbers of them; they would conquer their enemies; they would be a blessing to all the nations of the earth.
There are not many families in the earth of whom that can be said, but it has become true of Abraham's descendents, through Isaac.
Here are some ways in which they have been an unspeakable blessing to us today:
they recorded the word of God so that we have the benefit of reading it and living by its principles and obeying God for ourselves. through them, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah and Saviour of the world came into the world. through Abraham's descendent, the apostle Paul, who preached the Gospel mainly to the Gentiles, we have had the opportunity to hear about and believe in the Lord Jesus and have our sins remitted.
In addition to that, the apostle Paul says this:
13. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree"),
14. that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
(Galatians 3 NKJV)
This tells us clearly that the same blessing God gave to Abraham is also available to Gentile Christians today.
All this was made possible because Abraham had the fortitude to obey God.
Are you obeying God with your lifestyle today?
Prayer:
Father, it is my desire that You could commend me for obeying You, the way You were able to commend Abraham on this occasion.
I set my heart against lawlessness and disobedience today and set myself resolutely to obey You in all things,
in the name of Jesus, my Saviour,
who obeyed You in all things,
Amen.
