Monday 11 June 2012

PART TWO OF MY NEW SERIES ON "TYPES FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT".

Chapter 2

Abraham & Sarah

Scriptures

Genesis 21:1-7
1 And the Lord visited Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as He had spoken. 2 For Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.  3 And Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him  whom Sarah bore to him  Isaac. 4 Then Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him.  5 Now Abraham was one hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.  6 And Sarah said, “God has made me laugh, and all who hear will laugh with me.”  7 She also said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? For I have borne him a son in his old age.”

Also read:  Genesis chapters  22, 23, 24  &  25:1-11

Abraham is given the honoured and coveted title of ‘friend of God’.  See also Isaiah 41:8 & 2 Chronicles 20:7.
Our Mighty God chooses his friends with great care and this particular relationship given to Abraham reflects the depth of esteem with which the YHWH regarded him because of his faith in God Himself.  Indeed, Abraham has been regarded as a type of the life of faith for generations based on proof in Galatians 3 and Hebrews 11.  However, there is no more appropriate Bible character than Abraham, to be a type of the fatherhood of God and a type of God the Father Himself.
In our study of Genesis 22 to 24 (with some reference to chapters 21 & 25), we will see:
             Abraham as a type of God the Father
             Isaac as a type of the Lord Jesus Christ
             The ‘Un-named servantin chapter 24 as the Holy Spirit
             Sarah as a type of Israel  and
             Rebekah as the true Church, the Bride of Christ.
The birth of Abraham’s son Isaac  the result of a divine promise in Genesis 15  is clearly supernatural.  Genesis 21:1 states that YHWH visited Sarah and ‘He did for Sarah’ prefiguring in a type, events in Israel about 2,000 years later when the Holy Spirit came upon Mary (Luke 1:35).  Of course, in this case Isaac has Abraham as a biological (and elderly!) father but the divine intervention is explicit and the parallel with the conception of the Lord Jesus quite remarkable.  That God is working to a pre-ordained plan and a timetable is evidenced by verse 2 stating ‘for Sarah conceived .... at the set time of which God had spoken...’,  meaning at the ‘Right’ time.  That is, the right time according to God's will and intention.  We learn in Romans 5:6 ’For when we were still without strength, in due time (‘at the right time’, margin note NKJV) Christ died for the ungodly’ and Galatians 4:4 ‘But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born  of a woman …’.
The birth of Isaac is at a precise and fore-ordained time to suit the exact plan of YHWH.  This pictures the details of the conception and birth of the Lord Jesus, at the time of the Father’s choosing, fulfilling over 300 Biblical prophecies in the Old Testament in the finest detail, and being completely punctual according to a heavenly time-line  which ticks on until this day, anticipating the soon return of Jesus.  Not only is Isaac a ‘type’ of Christ but he is also a part of the Messianic line from which Jesus Himself will descend, being the fulfilment of the promised ‘seed of Abraham’.  Reading from Galatians 3:16 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’.
The Lord Jesus is the final and absolute fulfilment of the promises of God to Abraham and, indeed, of all the promises of God.  In the coming Millennial Kingdom all these promises will have their literal and practical completion here on Planet Earth when the Lord Jesus reigns from Jerusalem as King of Israel and King of Kings and the sons of Abraham have the fulness of the covenant of Genesis 15 extended to them.  The first parallel between the Lord Jesus and His forebear and type is the supernatural nature and divine timing of their respective births.
The relationship between God and Israel is described as ‘marital’ by the prophets Hosea and Isaiah.  Israel is pictured as the adulterous wife of YHWH who will be restored to Him and know His absolute forgiveness and total rehabilitation.  The Lord Jesus is the Son of God, but as the Son of Man He is born from the spiritually faithful remnant of the nation of Israel.  In that respect He is a Son of Israel.  The beginnings of the Hebrew people are in the womb of Sarah.  If Abraham is the father of faith then surely Hebrews 11:11 establishes Sarah’s position as its mother ... ‘by faith Sarah 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 (emphasis mine).  Sarah’s position as Israel in typology will be ratified as our studies continue.
As an aside, it is an encouragement to see that type and forebear of Jesus is named Isaac, meaning ‘laughter’.  The Lord Jesus is the cause and source of all true joyous laughter in earth and heaven;  the hymn-writer captured that thought in the line ‘Joy of Heaven to earth come down’.  Our delight and joy are to be found in Him in whom the Father is ‘well pleased’ and who, for eternity to come, will be our Life and satisfaction.  Laughter ... the beautiful sound of peaceful, happy, contented and glorious relationships in Christ and the audible expression of ‘shalom’.
Praise the LORD!

In our next study we will begin our examination of Genesis 22 and the relationship between the sacrifice of Isaac on Mount Moriah and the Cross of the Lord Jesus at Calvary.

BRIAN.

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