{"id":19182,"date":"2017-01-11T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-01-11T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/the-coming-kingdom-002\/"},"modified":"2022-01-12T17:17:43","modified_gmt":"2022-01-12T23:17:43","slug":"the-coming-kingdom-002","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/the-coming-kingdom-002\/","title":{"rendered":"The Coming Kingdom 002"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[12],"series_event":[470],"sermon_service_type":[474],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-19182","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-genesis","series_event-the-coming-kingdom","sermon_service_type-wednesday-evenings","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"The Coming Kingdom 002","sermon_date":"20170111","sermon_month":"1","sermon_year":"2017","sermon_notes":20065,"sermon_slides":20066,"sermon_mp3":20067,"sermon_id":"11117211218","series_or_event":470,"service_type":[474],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":12,"chapter_and_verse":"15:18-21","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\n\nThe Coming Kingdom\n\n1-11-17\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Genesis 15:18-21\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lesson 2\n\nLet\u2019s take our Bibles if we could and open them to the book of Genesis, chapter 12.\u00a0 I want to welcome everybody back as we are in session 2 of a study on the Kingdom, which to me is a very exciting study because to understand the Kingdom you have to understand the whole Bible.\u00a0 So this study will take you to really the high points of the whole Bible on this issue of the Kingdom, Genesis to Revelation.\u00a0 And the material we\u2019re going to start covering tonight is in chapter 3, I don\u2019t think we\u2019ll get through everything in chapter 3 tonight; we\u2019ll likely finish it next time.\u00a0 So if you haven\u2019t read chapter 3 you might want to try to have that read by next week to keep up.\n\nAnd you\u2019ll recall from the beginning of our study, our introductory lesson, we\u2019re following this outline that has four parts to it and we\u2019re\u00a0 just here in part 1, What Does the Bible Say About the Kingdom?\n\nAnd this particular point has 17 stops on it so we\u2019re only barely making our way into point 2 here, the Abrahamic Covenant.\u00a0 But you might recall from last week that we saw that the story of the Kingdom really begins in Genesis 1:26-28 because that\u2019s where God vests authority in Adam and Eve to govern creation for God.\u00a0 [Genesis 1:26-28, \u201cThen God said, \u2018Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.\u2019 [27] God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. [28] God blessed them; and God said to them, \u2018Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.\u201d\u2019]\n\nSo that\u2019s the beginning of God\u2019s design for the Kingdom.\u00a0 And you know from Genesis 3 that what happens is Adam and Eve, particularly Eve, who\u2019s influenced Adam, starts to listen to the animals, one in particular, a talking snake, and in the process rebel against God.\u00a0 So that\u2019s a top to bottom perversion of the Kingdom that God has established.\u00a0 God originally wanted to govern the first Adam and the first Adam is to govern creation for God.\u00a0 Satan gets our forbearers to listen to the animals and rebel against God.\u00a0 And the moment that happened is the moment the Kingdom, what we call the Theocratic Kingdom disappeared from planet earth.\u00a0 And who became the ruler of this world?\u00a0 The devil did, and the New Testament and Old Testament says this over and over again.\n\nSo the story of the Bible really is how is that structure that God established in Eden, how does it come back to the earth.\u00a0 And we know one day that God the Father will govern, not the first Adam but the last Adam who will govern creation for God over this earth.\u00a0\u00a0 And that\u2019s called the millennial Kingdom.\u00a0 So really what\u2019s happening in the Bible is how is this millennial Kingdom brought back to the earth and it happens in different stages and the Old Testament in particular is filled with promises.\n\nSo then we go to step 2 which is the Abrahamic Covenant and here we see starting to come into existence the promises of God and the plan of God through which the Kingdom is going to be restored.\n\nAnd the Abraham, as you\u2019ll see, is a massive topic.\u00a0 If you understand the covenant that God made with Abraham the rest of the Bible will make sense to you.\u00a0 If you don\u2019t understand the Abrahamic Covenant and what God covenanted Himself to do what is happening in the Bible seems very strange and mysterious because what is happening in the Bible is God is working to make good on promises that He made through Abraham.\u00a0 So we have all kinds of different things to talk about with the Abrahamic Covenant; I\u2019ve got these divided up into subparts.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think we\u2019ll get through all these tonight but at least we can get a good start at it.\n\nThe first point is the necessity of the Abrahamic Covenant.\u00a0 God calls a man named Abraham whose name at that time was just Abram, and He decides to start a new nation.\u00a0 And we might ask ourselves, well why didn\u2019t God just an existing nation.\u00a0 And there\u2019s an answer to that in Genesis 11; God starts to work with Abraham in Genesis 12 but what happens in Genesis 11 explains the reason why God is working with Abraham in Genesis 12.\u00a0 So you can\u2019t understand Genesis 12 unless you first understand Genesis 11.\u00a0 So there\u2019s a reason that Genesis 11 comes before Genesis 12 in your Bible.\u00a0 Do you guys agree with that thinking that chapter 11 comes before chapter 12\u2026 okay.\n\nNow Genesis 11 is the story of the tower of Babel and even before we get to the story of the tower of Babel, right after the fall of man God made a promise in Genesis 3:15; we call this the proto-evangelium, which just means first gospel.\u00a0 It\u2019s the first proclamation of the gospel in the whole Bible.\u00a0 And right after man fell God said to the serpent, \u201cAnd I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.\u201d So there is coming a person through the woman\u2019s seed.\u00a0 Who\u2019s \u201cthe woman\u201d here?\u00a0 Eve.\u00a0 There\u2019s coming a person through her seed who will crush Satan\u2019s head, who will take Satan\u2019s existing Kingdom reign, Satan becomes the god of this age at that point, and destroy it and turn things back to how God originally intended in Genesis 1.\n\nAnd as you go through early Genesis what you\u2019ll discover is this promise is channeled through Seth, channeled through Noah, channeled through Shem; now from the word \u201cShem\u201d you get the word Semite.\u00a0 So we know that this Messiah, when He comes, is going to come through the Semitic peoples of the earth; we don\u2019t know it\u2019s Israel at this point because we don\u2019t have any knowledge of Israel in Genesis 9.\n\nAnd then you get to Genesis 12:3 and this is where you start to learn that God is going to work through a specific man and through that man is going to come a specific series of descendants, ultimately called the Hebrews.\u00a0 And through the Hebrews is going to come this Kingdom that God wants to reassert over the earth.\u00a0 And then of course the promise will be passed down through the patriarchs, Abraham to Isaac, to Jacob, and then Genesis 49:10 is very specific because of the twelve tribes of Israel, it gives a specific tribe that Messiah is going to come from, the tribe of Judah, Genesis 49:10.\u00a0 [Genesis 49:10, \u201cThe scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes, And to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.\u201d]\n\nSo that theme is developing from Genesis chapter 3 through Genesis 9, but as that theme is developing the devil is working.\u00a0 Right?\u00a0 And you start to see the devil\u2019s work at the tower of Babel, Genesis 11:1-9, most of us know this story from Sunday School, but it says: \u201cNow the whole earth used the same language and the same words. [2] It came about as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.\u201d\n\nWhere is Shinar?\u00a0 Shinar is an area called Mesopotamia, that\u2019s a Greek name, it\u2019s a compound word, \u201cMeso\u201d means middle, \u201cpotamia\u201d means rivers, you recognize the word Potomac, a famous river in America, coming from that word potamia. Mesopotamia literally means between the rivers.\u00a0 What rivers am I talking about?\u00a0 The Euphrates and the Tigris, and the Hebrew name for that area is called Shinar.\u00a0 If you\u2019ve been tracking with us on Sunday morning it\u2019s where Daniel and his three friends were taken into captivity in the 6th<\/sup> century B.C.\n\nAnd at this time as you know the story, now the whole earth used the same language.\u00a0 So there were no multiple languages at this point, there was only one language.\u00a0 So the reason that\u2019s significant is because what you have to understand is that what happened at the tower of Babel affected every culture.\u00a0 It\u2019s kind of like throwing a rock into a placid pond and you watch the wake reverberate in all directions.\u00a0 What happened at Babel the evil that was happening at Babel was exported into every language, into every culture because all people groups traced their origin back to the tower of Babel.\u00a0 And you see, this is necessary explanation to understand why God has to raise up a new nation; He\u2019s got to raise up a nation independent of the universal effects of the tower of Babel and that\u2019s why God worked with Abraham in a special way.\n\nSo it says, \u201cNow the whole earth used the same language and the same words. [2] It came about as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. [3] They said to one another, \u2018Come, let us make bricks and burn them<\/em> thoroughly.\u2019\u00a0 And they used brick for stone, and they used tar for mortar. [4] They said, \u2018Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach<\/em> into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name,\u201d so obviously these people aren\u2019t doing things for God\u2019s glory, they are doing things for self-glory, \u201cotherwise we will be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.\u2019\n\n[5] The LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. [6] The LORD said, \u2018Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same language. And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them.\u00a0 [7] \u201cCome, let Us\u201d see the Triunity of God there?\u00a0 That\u2019s an early hint of the Trinity, \u201c\u2018Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another\u2019s speech.\u2019 [8] So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the city. [9] Therefore its name was called Babel,\u201d or Babel which literally means gate of the gods, El means God, and b-a-b there means gate and so they were trying what I like to call a stairway to heaven; they were trying to make a path into heaven without God\u2019s grace, that\u2019s basically works righteousness.\u00a0 \u201c\u2026because there the LORD confused the language of the whole earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of the whole earth.\u201d\n\nSo what you have to understand, and the biblical text doesn\u2019t tell me this, I\u2019m depending on\u2026 you\u2019ll notice at the bottom of the screen there a book by Alexander Hislop, , which is considered a classic, called The Two Babylons<\/em>.\u00a0 And Hislop did a study of Babylonian tradition; he got his hands on everything that he could find in extra biblical material that dealt with Babylon and he writes about it in this book, what was happening at the tower of Babel.\u00a0 The tower of Babel was coming together under a man named Nimrod, who is mentioned in the biblical text; he\u2019s mentioned in Genesis 10:8-10.\u00a0 [Genesis 10:8-10, \u201cNow Cush became the father of Nimrod; he became a mighty one on the earth. [9] He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; therefore it is said, \u201cLike Nimrod a mighty hunter before the LORD.\u201d [10] The beginning of his Kingdom was Babel and Erech and Accad and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.\u201d]\n\nIn fact, Nimrod\u2019s very name means revolt.\u00a0 So he is the first prefigurement, if you will, of the coming antichrist.\u00a0 And Hislop says that Nimrod was married to a woman named Semiramis<\/em>.<\/strong>\u00a0 And essentially what happened is the two of them had a child named Tammuz; Tammuz was killed by a wild animal but then Tammuz was miraculously resurrected to life, very similar to the way Satan, in Revelation 13, is going to bring the antichrist back to life in the tribulation period.\n\nSo what happened is everybody started to worship the mother and the child; so they worshipped Semiramis and they worshiped Tammuz.\u00a0 And that was the whole religious system that was in place in Genesis 11.\u00a0 So God did not like this one-world project, we talk a lot about one-world government and people wanting one-world government; this\u00a0 is man\u2019s first attempt at one-world government and they were basically trying to build what we would call a new world order which is a system of politics, economics and religion that excludes God, that controls every facet of a person.\n\nAnd this system was political, this system was economic and the system was also religious.\u00a0 And it\u2019s religious in the sense that people were worshipping, according to Hislop, the mother and the child.\u00a0 And God understands something about human nature; He understands that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.\u00a0 So God did not like this project so he went in and performed a miracle so that people couldn\u2019t understand each other.\u00a0 So from one language you now have multiple languages.\n\nSo from there the human race spread abroad, so people that spoke one language went one direction; people that spoke a different language went a different direction, people that spoke even another language went a different direction.\u00a0 And what did each culture take with them?\u00a0 A piece of the religious system of the tower of Babel.\u00a0 See that?\u00a0\u00a0 So the point is every country on planet earth has been corrupted by this system.\u00a0 And Hislop says you can look at all kinds of cultures and you find remnants of this Mother-Child worship system, it\u2019s just the names get changed from culture to culture.\u00a0 So in Assyria the mother is called Ishtar.\u00a0 By the way, what word do we get from Ishtar?\u00a0 Easter, so all this stuff about bunnies and eggs and things like that, you all realize that\u2019s not in the Bible; that\u2019s Babylonian paganism that we\u2019ve incorporated into our holiday.\n\nThe mother is called Ishtar; the child is called Tammuz.\u00a0 In Phoenician the mother was called Astarte, the child was called Ba\u2019al. In Egypt the mother was called Isis, the child is called Osiris or Horus.\u00a0 In Greece the mother is called Aphrodite, the child is called Eros.\u00a0 In Rome the mother is called Venus, the child is called Cupid.\u00a0 So I\u2019ve already wrecked Easter, I must wreck Valentine\u2019s Day.\u00a0\u00a0 This thing where you shoot an arrow into somebody and they madly fall in love with you, Cupid and all these things, that\u2019s Babylonianism. I still think you should celebrate Valentine\u2019s Day, unless you want to go to divorce court or something; don\u2019t tell your spouse your church said we\u2019re not going to celebrate Valentine\u2019s day.\u00a0 In Asia the mother is called Cybele, the child is called Desius.\u00a0 In India the mother is called Isi, the child is called Aswara.\n\nNow Alexander Hislop is no friend of Roman Catholicism.\u00a0 If you mention Alexander Hislop around Roman Catholics they will\u2026 and if they\u2019re well-read they\u2019ll react angrily against the name Alexander Hislop because Hislop\u2019s point is the Mary and Jesus of Roman Catholicism is not the Mary and Jesus of the Bible.\u00a0 We accept that as true because we had a Protestant Reformation.\u00a0 So in the Roman Catholic system Mary is actually like a Co-Redemptress and she is actually someone that you pray to.\u00a0 And Mary, of course they believe remained a virgin her whole life; they call that the Perpetual virginity of Mary, which is sort of hard to argue because Jesus had a lot of half-brothers, didn\u2019t He?\u00a0 And Jesus, of course, in Roman Catholicism is just\u2026 it\u2019s a works based system.\u00a0 So Hislop said this Mother\/Child cult went right into Roman Catholicism and adopted the biblical names Mary and Jesus.\u00a0 And this is why God raised up Israel because Israel was the only nation started independent of this Mother-Child Cult. This is why when the Mother-Child cult, later on in Israel\u2019s history, comes into the borders of Israel God is irate at this.\n\nFor example, notice a few verses. Jeremiah 7:18, this is much later on, after Israel\u2019s already been in existence, it says, \u201cThe children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough to make cakes for the queen of heaven\u2026\u201d\u00a0 Now who\u2019s the \u201cqueen of heaven?\u201d\u00a0 The \u201cqueen of heaven\u201d is Semiramis.\u00a0 And I\u2019ve had, in my classes at College of Biblical Studies I\u2019ve had Roman Catholic students who have told me, you know what, this is exactly what Roman Catholics call the Virgin Mary today; they actually call her the \u201cqueen of heaven.\u201d\n\nNotice Jeremiah 44:17, it says, \u201cBut rather we will certainly carry out every word that has proceeded from our mouths, by burning sacrifices to the queen of heaven\u2026.\u201d There it is again.\u00a0 And one more, notice Ezekiel 8:14-15, and this is the reason Israel went off into deportation.\u00a0\u00a0 God was so angry at His people because He started them independent of the Mother-Child cult and lo and behold they had become just like the very system that he started independent of the Mother-Child cult.\u00a0 Israel had lost sight of her purpose.\u00a0 That\u2019s why God is so angry with the nation of Israel when she says we want a king so we can be like what?\u00a0 1 Samuel 8, all the other nations.\u00a0 Well, why do you want to be like all the other nations; you were started for the purpose of being different than the other nations.\n\nNotice, if you will, Ezekiel 8:14-15, is says,\u00a0 \u201cThen He brought me to the entrance of the gate of the LORD\u2019S house which was<\/em> toward the north; and behold, women were sitting there weeping for\u201d who? \u201cTammuz.\u201d\u00a0 Now that\u2019s the child in the Nimrod system.\u00a0 And then verse 15, \u201cHe said to me, \u2018Do you see this,<\/em> son of man? Yet you will see still greater abominations than these.\u2019\u201d \u00a0So what you have to understand about Genesis 11 is the Mother-Child cult was exported into every single culture.\u00a0 And this is why the Lord raised up the nation of Israel.\u00a0\u00a0 You see, God can\u2019t use Assyria, she\u2019s been corrupted by the Mother-Child cult.\u00a0 He can\u2019t use Egypt, Phoenicia, any other nation on here because they\u2019ve all been corrupted by the Mother-Child cult.\n\nSo God has to create a brand new nation and through this brand new nation He\u2019s going to fulfill \u00a0His Kingdom promises that begin as early as Genesis 3:15.\u00a0 That\u2019s why early Genesis is carefully tracing the genealogy, the lineage of Genesis 3:15 right from Adam to Abram.\u00a0 So Israel has a \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0very special place in the outworking of God\u2019s purposes because she is the only nation started independently of the Mother-Child cult because God\u2019s starting of the nation of Israel was subsequent or after every other culture had been infected with the virus of the Mother-Child cult.\u00a0 That\u2019s why Genesis 11 is necessary background to understand what God is doing with Abram in Genesis 12.\u00a0 So there has been a universal contamination because this Mother-Child system, this idolatrous system has been exported everywhere.\n\nSo what does God do?\u00a0 He calls a man named Abram from the Ur of the Chaldeans and He tells him to walk by faith, to leave his heritage, to leave what he knows and God is going to take him to a place that Abram has never seen, the Promised Land.\u00a0 And you\u2019ll notice at the bottom of the screen there, but I have the book of Joshua, chapter 24, verses 2-3 which is one of those lengthy historical sermons that you find in the Bible, stretching all the way back to the time of Abram.\u00a0 And it says this: Joshua 24:2-3, \u201cJoshua said to all the people, \u201cThus says the LORD, the God of Israel, \u2018From ancient times your fathers lived beyond the River, namely,<\/em> Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, and they served other gods.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 You see that?\u00a0\u00a0 [3]\u2018Then I took your father Abraham from beyond the River, and led him through all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his descendants and gave him Isaac.\u201d\u00a0 So the nation of Israel begins at that point.\n\nBut you\u2019ll notice in this historical documentation of Israel\u2019s past that Abram was an idolater just like everybody else.\u00a0 So he had to be taken away from that system; he had to trust in God and God had to progressively sanctify him or separate him because Abram has a very special call on his life, to be the progenitor of a race or a nation through which God is going to fulfill His Kingdom program.\u00a0 God has to do this because every other culture has been corrupted by the idolatrous Nimrod Mother\/Child system.\n\nSo there is Abram there on the right side of the map in the east and he\u2019s told to leave Ur of the Chaldeans and most people believe that that\u2019s the path that he took, he\u2019s walking by faith not knowing where he\u2019s going.\u00a0 And God is going to take him to a special place that we now know as the land of Canaan.\u00a0 So he\u2019s going up and then back down into the land of Canaan.\n\nAnd around this time, as you go to Genesis 12:1-3 the Lord begins to lavish upon Abram very special promises and these are what we call the Abrahamic promises.\u00a0 We do not yet have a covenant because the word covenant is not used in these verses.\u00a0 Later God is going to take these promises and ratify them into an official covenant.\n\nBut right now what they are, are promises and these verses say, Genesis 12:1-3, \u201cNow the LORD said to Abram, \u2018Go forth from your country, and from your relatives, and from your father\u2019s house, to the land which I will show you;\u00a0 [2] And I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and so you shall be a blessing;\u00a0 [3] And I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse.\u00a0 And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.\u201d\n\nAnd then dropping down to verse 7 it says, \u201cThe LORD appeared to Abram and said, \u2018To your descendants I will give this land.\u2019\u201d That\u2019s Canaan, later called the land of Israel, whose borders are going to be developed for us a little bit later in the Bible.\u00a0 [7, \u201cSo he built an altar there to the LORD who had appeared to him. [8] Then he proceeded from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the LORD and called upon the name of the LORD. [9] Abram journeyed on, continuing toward the Negev.\u201d]\n\nSo by my count there\u2019s about nine promises here that God made to Abram at this point.\u00a0 Number 1, he would become a great nation.\u00a0 Number 2, God said He\u2019d bless him.\u00a0 Number 3, God said He\u2019d make his name great, and it is interesting to me that the name of Abraham is revered in the three greatest religions of the world: Judaism, Christianity and Islam all\u2026 I say great religions in the sense of the most influential religions; they all have a high regard for Abram to some extent.\n\nAnd so we can see how literally God fulfills these promises.\u00a0 You shall be a blessing, in other words, the blessings I\u2019m going to give you are not just for you; I\u2019m going to channel My blessings to the whole world through you.\u00a0 I will bless those who bless you is another promise.\u00a0 Another promise is I will curse the one who curses you.\u00a0 Now the devil doesn\u2019t like these promises so he\u2019s always working in history to blot our Israel.\u00a0 So God made provision for Abraham and his descendants that those who curse the nation of Israel would be cursed.\u00a0 \u201cAnd in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s another promise.\u00a0 And then later on in verse 7 He gives him the promise of the land.\n\nSo these are, by my count, nine promises that God made to Abraham whose name was still Abram, as he was walking by faith and leaving Ur of the Chaldeans.\u00a0 So the thing to understand is God calls Abraham because it\u2019s necessary, every other nation has been corrupted, and these promises really help explain how God is going to make good on His promise, going all the way back to Genesis 3:15.\u00a0 [Genesis 3:15, \u201cAnd I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.\u201d]\u00a0\u00a0 From the seed of the woman is going to come one who\u2019s going to crush the serpent\u2019s head.\u00a0 There\u2019s going to come upon the earth a Kingdom of God and it\u2019s in Genesis 12 we learn through which man and through people group this Kingdom will come, the nation of Israel.\n\nThe third thing to understand about these promises is that they\u2019re literal, and this is the dispute that I would have with a lot of interpreters because they make these promises sound as if it\u2019s in heaven somewhere.\u00a0 But in reality these are very earthly promises.\u00a0 So we start to get a hint here of an earthly Kingdom on planet earth and notice if you will Genesis 11:31.\u00a0 It says in Genesis 11:31, \u201cTerah\u201d that\u2019s Abram\u2019s father, \u201ctook Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife; and they went out together from Ur of the Chaldeans in order to enter the land of Canaan; and they went as far as Haran, and settled there.\u201d\n\nSo let me ask you a question: is the land of Canaan a literal place?\u00a0 Well of course it is because it\u2019s juxtaposed against Ur, which is a literal place, and Haran, which is a literal place.\u00a0 So if you believe that Abraham was literally called out of an actual place called Ur of the Chaldeans in Mesopotamia and most everybody believes that\u2019s a literal place, by definition you have to make Canaan a literal place; you can\u2019t just pick and choose what parts of these are literal and earthly and which ones are not.\n\nAnd over in Genesis 13:14-17 it says this: \u201cThe LORD said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, Now lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward; [15] for all the land which you see, I will give it to you and to your descendants forever. [16] I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth, so that if anyone can number the dust of the earth, then your descendants can also be numbered.\u201d\u00a0 Look at verse 17, \u201cArise, walk about the land through its length and breadth; for I will give it to you.\u201d\u00a0 So this obviously has to be a very literal piece of real estate because Abram, by God\u2019s command, was told to actually walk around the land which his descendants would one day possess.\n\nNow over in Genesis 15:18-21 you start to get some information about the dimensions of the land.\n\nIt says, \u2018On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, \u2018To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates: [19]\u00a0 the Kenite and the Kenizzite and the Kadmonite\u00a0 [20] and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Rephaim [21] and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Girgashite and the Jebusite.\u201d\n\nSo notice the land there is mentioned, Genesis 15:18, and the land that Abraham and his descendants will possess one day is analogized to \u201cthe river of Egypt\u201d and \u201cthe river Euphrates.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Now was the Euphrates an actual river?\u00a0 Of course it is.\u00a0 How about the river of Egypt?\u00a0 Some think that\u2019s the Nile, some think it\u2019s what\u2019s called Wadi-el-Arish, there\u2019s a debate on that.\u00a0\u00a0 But whatever \u201cthe river of Egypt\u201d is it\u2019s a literal place.\u00a0 So obviously the land, which is compared to those rivers must be a literal place as well.\u00a0 See that?\n\nSo notice the land there is mentioned, Genesis 15:18, and the land that Abraham and his descendants will possess one day is analogized to \u201cthe river of Egypt\u201d and \u201cthe river Euphrates.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Now was the Euphrates an actual river?\u00a0 Of course it is.\u00a0 How about the river of Egypt?\u00a0 Some think that\u2019s the Nile, some think it\u2019s what\u2019s called Wadi-el-Arish, there\u2019s a debate on that.\u00a0\u00a0 But whatever \u201cthe river of Egypt\u201d is it\u2019s a literal place.\u00a0 So obviously the land, which is compared to those rivers must be a literal place as well.\u00a0 See that?\n\nAnd this is all initial hints in the Bible that the earthly Kingdom that God one day is going to set up on planet earth.\u00a0\u00a0 Now how about all of these \u201cites\u201d?\u00a0 Were those literal people groups?\u00a0 Yeah, they were actually Canaanites living in Canaan (it\u2019s called Canaan at that time) so just like these are all literal people groups on planet earth Abram and his descendants must also be inheritors, as a literal people group, on planet earth.\n\nAnd see, what people like to do is they want to drag this promise and they want to go all the way to the right hand side of the screen, which is the new heavens and new earth and they want to say well this is a promise that\u2019s going to be fulfilled in the eternal state.\u00a0 And that really is not our belief; we believe that before the eternal state is set up there\u2019s an intermediary thousand year kingdom.\u00a0 We believe these promises are not going to be set up in the eternal state; we believe they\u2019re going to be set up primarily, at least initially, in the thousand year kingdom.\n\nAnd we can\u2019t just drag this over into the eternal state the way many people want.\u00a0 Why is that?\u00a0 Because Abram walked around this earth; he was actually walking on soil on planet earth when God made these promises to him.\n\nThe eternal state is not this earth, it\u2019s a new earth.\u00a0 So in order for these promises to come to pass God can\u2019t allow the present earth to go out of existence until these promises are realized and once they\u2019re realized then He is free to destroy this world by fire, 2 Peter 3:10 and replace it with a new heavens and a new earth.\u00a0 [2 Peter 3:10, \u201cBut the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.\u201d]\n\nBut these promises that are being given here are not applicable to the eternal state; these are applicable to the thousand year kingdom which precedes the eternal state, which is brought into existence after our Lord returns at the end of the tribulation period.\n\nSo these promises are necessary, it was necessary for God to raise up Israel as God began to work with Abraham He gave him very specific promises, about eight or nine total; these promises are very earthly and literal.\u00a0 And something else to understand is these promises relate to Abram\u2019s physical descendants.\u00a0 God has purposed to bless the world; I\u2019m happy about that, aren\u2019t you?\u00a0 That would include me.\u00a0 But he has purposed that the blessings would come to me through the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.\u00a0 God is using Israel in a special way; He can\u2019t use any other nation because they\u2019ve been corrupted by this Mother\/Child idolatrous harlotrous system.\u00a0 So all of these promises relate to Abrams physical descendants.\n\nAnd you\u2019ll notice that in Genesis 15:4-5, \u201cThen behold, the word of the LORD came to him, saying,\u201d now Abraham was kind of weak in faith at some points, wasn\u2019t he?\u00a0 I don\u2019t really blame him for that, I mean, how would you feel at the age of 99 or 100 if the Lord came and told you that you and your wife would have a child.\u00a0 So he just kind of thought well, it\u2019s going to be a common slave in my household, Eliezer of Damascus, through him the promises are going to come about.\n\nNotice what God says, \u201cThen behold, the word of the LORD came to him, saying, \u2018This man will not be your heir; but one who will come forth from your own\u201d what? \u201cbody, he shall be your heir.\u201d\u2019\u00a0 [5] And He took him outside and said, \u2018Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 Kind of an interesting point here is you can go back in history and all of these philosophers and so-called scientists thought the stars could be counted and now with the advent of technology that we have today, like the Hubble telescope and things like that, we learn that the stars are innumerable.\u00a0 So God makes kind of a challenge to Abraham, count the stars if you can, hint hint, you can\u2019t count them.\u00a0 You kind of get the idea that an omniscient God who spoke this designed the universe that we\u2019re in.\u00a0 Don\u2019t you get that picture, and that He knows how many stars are actually out there.\u00a0 [5] \u201cAnd He took him outside and said, \u2018Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.\u2019\u00a0 And He said to him, So shall your descendants be.\u201d\u2019\n\nIn other words, this innumerable people group is going o come from Abraham\u2019s own body.\u00a0 So these are not just generic promises to anybody because God has purposed to bless Israel and through Israel the world will be blessed.\u00a0 And you\u2019re starting to see the foundation of it here in early Genesis.\n\nDo you remember Genesis 12:7, \u201cThe LORD appeared to Abram and said, \u2018To your descendants I will give this land.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 So\u00a0 it\u2019s very clear that it\u2019s through Abram\u2019s physical lineage that these promises are going to come.\u00a0 That\u2019s why the birth of Isaac is such a big deal.\u00a0 Abraham and Sarah had to wait on the Lord for a long time for that kid to be born and that\u2019s why Abraham really had to walk by faith when God told Abraham related to Isaac, now I want you to take Isaac and kill him at Mount Moriah.\u00a0 And the book of Hebrews tells us that Abraham reasoned that God would do what?\u00a0 Even if he killed Isaac?\u00a0 Rise him from the dead because these promises are ironclad.\u00a0 So the whole program is going to go from Abraham to Isaac; we\u2019ve got to wait for the birth Isaac who is a physical descendant of Abraham.\u00a0 It\u2019s not going to be Eliezer of Damascus, it\u2019s not going to be a common slave in the household, it\u2019s going to be through Abraham\u2019s own body.\n\nAnd then, of course, from Isaac will come Jacob and then from Jacob will come Jacob\u2019s dozen who became the twelve tribes.\u00a0 And then of those twelve tribes keep your eye on a very special tribe, the tribe of Judah because the King is going to come from the tribe of Judah.\n\nNow at this point the promises that Abram has, and it would be one thing, would it not, to have a promise from God, not just a promise but promises, what did we say, eight or nine of them here?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 But at this point the promise takes on covenantal force.\u00a0 Notice if you will Genesis 15:18.\u00a0 God takes these promises and ratifies them into a form of an Ancient Near East covenant.\u00a0 And it says this, \u201cOn that day the LORD made a\u201d what? \u201ccovenant with Abram, saying, \u2018To your descendants I have given this land, [From the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates:]\u201d\n\nNow this is the first time the word \u201ccovenant\u201d shows up in the Bible relative to God\u2019s dealings with Abraham, whose name at this time is still Abram.\u00a0\u00a0 The only other time in the Bible that the word \u201ccovenant\u201d has ever been used thus far is God\u2019s covenant with who?\u00a0 Noah, which is not a covenant of redemption, it\u2019s a covenant where human government comes into existence to restrain evil, where the sword was placed in the hands of the government and Genesis 9:6 you see the beginning of the institution of capital punishment.\u00a0 [Genesis 9:6, \u201cWhoever sheds man's blood, By man his blood shall be shed, For in the image of God He made man.\u201d]\n\nIn our Bible and Voting series that we did in this church on Sunday mornings we went into a little bit into the Noahic Covenant, you can go back and listen to that; those sermons, to get some background on the Noahic Covenant.\u00a0 And of course, every covenant has a sign.\u00a0 The sign of the Noahic Covenant is what?\u00a0 The rainbow.\u00a0 The sign of the Abrahamic Covenant, as we\u2019re going to discover, is what?\u00a0 Circumcision.\u00a0 The sign of the Mosaic Covenant which we haven\u2019t even covered yet is what?\u00a0 The Sabbath. And then the sign of the New Covenant which we haven\u2019t talked about yet it the communion table.\u00a0 So every covenant has a sign and the covenant with Noah had the sign of a rainbow.\u00a0 So we\u2019re not dealing with the Noahic Covenant; that\u2019s the only time the word \u201ccovenant\u201d has ever showed up yet.\n\nAnd now for the first time, as God is dealing with Abraham the word \u201ccovenant\u201d shows up.\u00a0 It says, \u201cOn that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram.\u201d\u00a0 The Hebrew word for covenant, translated covenant, is berith<\/em>, and I cannot emphasize to you what a big deal that word is.\u00a0 The best I can analogize it to is it would be analogous to a legal contract; that\u2019s the only thing I can come up with.\u00a0 God is legally, not just promising, God is legally contracting Himself; He is legally obligating Himself to fulfill those eight or nine promises, going back to Genesis 12.\u00a0 And that\u2019s why these promises have to be literal.\u00a0 They have to be literal because the rest of the Scripture is ascertaining as to whether God has met His obligations under the covenant.\u00a0 In order to determine breech of a contract you look at the performance of the parties.\u00a0 Right?\u00a0 So you have a contract to borrow money, you have a contract to get a loan for a house, mortgage\u00a0 contract.\u00a0 Think of all of the kinds of contractual arrangements you enter to; have you ever once entered into an allegorical contract?\n\nEvery contract you\u2019ve ever entered into is literal, the terms are literal.\u00a0 They have to be literal because you have to determine compliance and breech.\u00a0 See that?\u00a0 That\u2019s why lawyers love this system of theology that I\u2019m describing here because a lawyer is trained in contract law and they understand the nature of a contract, and they understand the nature of compliance and breech and the only way to determine compliance and breech of a contract is if the terms of the contract are construed according to their ordinary sense.\u00a0 See that?\n\nSo \u201cOn that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram.\u201d\u00a0 Everything God has said He would do in and through Abram at this point is a promise, which would be enough, but God now says I\u2019m going to up it a little bit\u2026 not a little bit but a lot, I\u2019m going to take those promises and ratify them into an actual legal contract.\u00a0 Now in ancient times they didn\u2019t use the word \u201ccontract,\u201d they used this word \u201ccovenant\u201d which is the Hebrew word berith<\/em>.\n\nSo at this point Abram\u2019s promises take on covenantal force.\u00a0 Now what are these promises that God gave to Abram?\u00a0 What did we say, eight promises or nine, I keep going back and forth, let\u2019s go with nine.\u00a0 We can take those promises and we can simplify them and break them into three categories.\u00a0 He promised Abram, number 1, land; He promised Abram, number 2, seed or innumerable descendants, as innumerable as the stars.\u00a0 And He promised Abram, number 3, a personal blessing.\n\nSo let\u2019s kind of unpack these.\u00a0 The first thing God promised to Abraham is land: \u201cOn that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, \u2018To your descendants I have given this land, From the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates:\u2019\u201d [Genesis 15:18]\u00a0 Look at the size of that land; it\u2019s fairly large; it\u2019s much bigger than even what Israel possesses today, just west of the Jordan River.\u00a0 It\u2019s a tract of real estate that literally stretches all the way from modern day Egypt all the way up to modern day Iraq.\u00a0 It\u2019s a tract of real estate that the nation of Israel, both in the Bible and in modern times has never fully occupied.\n\nIn fact, that darker area is what the Joshua generation got.\u00a0 That lighter area is everything that God has promised through Abram and not just a promise but now a covenant.\u00a0 So Abram is promised land stretching from the River of Egypt all the way to the Euphrates.\n\nSo we have land, verses 18-21, by the way, I\u2019m in Genesis 15.\u00a0 Genesis 15 is the most important chapter in the Bible.\u00a0 Now the first time one of my teachers told me that I didn\u2019t believe that was true.\u00a0 He said what\u2019s the most important chapter in the Bible.\u00a0 I thought well John 3 because that has John 3:16 in it, and my professor, Dwight Pentecost said no, the most important chapter in the Bible is Genesis 15 because it\u2019s in Genesis 15 that God contractually binds himself.\u00a0 And all that is happening in the rest of the Bible is God is making good on these promises, literally construed, because God is not going to be in breach of His covenant.\n\nSo if you understand Genesis 15 and the significance of it everything else in the Bible starts fitting into place.\u00a0 The rest of the Bible is God simply making good on what He contractually obligated Himself to do in Genesis 15.\n\nSo Abram, in Genesis 15, number 1, is given land; backing up a little bit number 2, he\u2019s given seed.\n\nAnd by the way, before I even get to the seed, do you want to make Genesis 15:18-21, shall we drag it to the far right hand side of the screen and make that part of the eternal state?\n\nIt doesn\u2019t fit there, does it because it talks about the river of Egypt and the river Euphrates that both flowed into a common source into the ocean, didn\u2019t they, when you look at the map here.\u00a0 What are you not going to have in the eternal state?\u00a0 John, in Revelation 21:1 said he saw no sea.\u00a0 [Revelation 21:1, \u201cThen I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea.\u201d]\u00a0 Genesis 15:18-21 is talking about two rivers connected to a sea.\u00a0 So all of these theologians that want to say this is not part of the intermediate kingdom that God is going to set up on planet earth, let\u2019s just drag all this stuff to the eternal state does not fit; it does not fit the details.\u00a0 The eternal state is an entirely different matter.\n\nSo Abraham is going to have land; he\u2019s also going to have seed or descendants coming forth from his own body\u2026 \u201cso shall your descendants be.\u201d\u00a0 [Genesis 15:5, \u201cAnd He took him outside and said, \u2018Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.\u2019 And He said to him, \u2018So shall your descendants be.\u2019\u201d]\u00a0\u00a0 So through Isaac, and then Jacob, and then the twelve tribes is going to come this innumerable race of people that God is going to use to bless planet earth.\n\nSo we have land in Genesis 15; we have seed in Genesis 15, in fact that seed is going to be more numerable than the stars of heaven.\u00a0\u00a0 And then the next thing that we\u2019re given here is land, seed and what?\u00a0 Blessing.\u00a0 Look at Genesis 15:1. God promises a personal blessing to Abram.\u00a0 It says, \u201cAfter these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, \u2018Do not fear, Abram, I am a shield to you; Your reward shall be very great.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 So God didn\u2019t just give him land, He didn\u2019t just promise him innumerable descendants, but He promised him a personal blessing; He says I\u2019ll be like a shield to you and I\u2019ll be the one that rewards you.\n\nSo those nine blessings you can sort of simply into three major categories: land, seed and blessing, and you really start seeing that develop in Genesis 15.\n\nNow something else to understand about the Abrahamic Covenant is it is ironclad reliable.\u00a0 It\u2019s ironclad reliable because number 1, Abraham didn\u2019t just have promises but he had, number 2 a what?\u00a0 A covenant.\u00a0 And if that weren\u2019t enough, number 3, this goes directly to the character of God, can God lie?\u00a0 He cannot lie.\u00a0 In fact, the Bible tells us over and over again that it is impossible for God to lie.\n\nPhilosophers ask the question, well can God make a rock so big that He can\u2019t lift it.\u00a0 No He can\u2019t.\u00a0 God cannot make a rock so big that He can\u2019t lift it because that would violate God\u2019s character who\u2019s sovereign over His creation at all times.\u00a0 For God to make a rock so big that He can\u2019t lift\u00a0 would be creation controlling God rather than the other way around.\u00a0 There are certain things God can\u2019t do and one of the things God cannot do is lie.\u00a0 And see this is why you have the commandment in the Bible, \u201cThou shalt not lie.\u201d If we\u2019re really to be imitators of the character of God we should be people of truth because it\u2019s an impossibility for God to lie.\n\nNumbers 23:19, it says this over and over again, the impossibility of God to lie, Numbers 23:19 says, \u201cGod is not a man, that He should lie\u2026,\u201d lying is what human beings do in their depravity.\u00a0 It\u2019s not what God does.\u00a0\u00a0 Over in the book of Titus, Titus 1:2, it says, \u201cin the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago.\u201d\u00a0 And one more just for good measure, Hebrews 6:18 says this: \u201cso that by two unchangeable things\u201d now in context what are the two unchangeable things that Abraham had?\u00a0 Promises and a covenant, and if that weren\u2019t enough, Hebrews 6:18 says, \u201cso that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie...\u201d\n\nSo there has to come a point in history where God makes good on all of these promises for the simple reason that \u201cit is impossible for God to lie.\u201d\u00a0 And see, what you\u2019re starting to see developed very early on in the Bible is this belief that there has to be an earthly kingdom on planet earth, unless you want to pretend like these promises are just spiritual or allegorical or symbolic.\u00a0\u00a0 You would have to defy the ordinary laws of language to believe that.\u00a0 That\u2019s why I\u2019m kind of laboring here to show you.\n\nAnd then one more point and it\u2019s a vast point so I won\u2019t be able to get into it tonight, but these promises that Abraham has, land, seed and blessing, become the basis for the sub covenants.\u00a0 See, there\u2019s one foundational covenant, the covenant He made with Abraham, Genesis 15, land, seed and blessing.\u00a0 Those three provisions are given further detail and amplification in subsequent specific promises or covenants that God makes later on in biblical history.\u00a0 And with all of these other covenants we call them sub covenants because the flow out of the foundational Abrahamic Covenant.\n\nAnd in all these sub covenants the Hebrew word berith<\/em> is used in all these other sub covenants as well.\u00a0 So the land promises in the Abrahamic Covenant are given further amplification and clarity in what is called the land covenant that God made with Moses 600 years after the time of Abraham.\u00a0 The seed promises of the Abrahamic Covenant are given greater clarity and amplification and development in what is called the Davidic Covenant, which is a covenant that God entered into with David in 2 Samuel 7:12-16 about a thousand years after the time of Abraham.\n\n[2 Samuel 7:12, \u201cWhen thy days are fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, that shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. [13] He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. [14] I will be his father, and he shall be my son: if he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men; [15] but my loving-kindness shall not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee. [16] And thy house and thy kingdom shall be made sure for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established forever. [17]According to all these words, and according to all this vision, so did Nathan speak unto David.\u2019\u201d]\n\nThe blessings, the personal blessings is given greater clarity and development and detail and amplification in what is called the New Covenant, which is revealed in Jeremiah 31:31-34, and that covenant isn\u2019t even revealed until almost prior to the time of the deportation, about one thousand four hundred years, roughly, after the time of Abraham.\u00a0 [Jeremiah 31:31-34, \u201c\u2018Behold, days are coming,\u2019 declares the LORD, \u2018when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, [32] not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,\u2019 declares the LORD.\u00a0 [33] \u201cBut this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,\u201d declares the LORD, \u2018I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. [34] They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, \u2018Know the LORD,\u2019 for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,\u2019 declares the LORD, \u2018for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.\u201d\u2019]\n\nSo what is God doing in these sub covenants?\u00a0 He\u2019s not changing the original structure at all; the original structure is right there in Genesis 15, nothing changes.\u00a0 The only thing these sub covenants do is add more information.\u00a0 And because God cannot lie he never alters what He originally said; He just adds more and more details.\u00a0 And as I\u2019ll be showing you next week, if you understand that these covenants are literal, and something called unconditional, and unfulfilled and God can\u2019t lie, you start to see how He has to move His hand in history or else He\u2019s the one that has egg on His face.\u00a0 So He has to establish this earthly kingdom through the Hebrew people.\u00a0 He has to!\u00a0 It\u2019s just a matter of time before it happens because of the ironclad nature of this covenant.\n\nSo number 1, the\u00a0 covenant is necessary because of the corruption of the earth due to the mother\/child cult.\u00a0 Number 2, God calls Abraham from Ur of the Chaldeans and gives him promises, nine promises. Number 3, These promises are literal.\u00a0 Number 4, these promises are going to be channeled through Abraham\u2019s physical descendants.\u00a0 Number 5, these promises take on covenantal force in Genesis 15. Number 6, you can for purposes of simplicity categorize these promises in land, seed and blessing. Number 7, these promises are reliable.\u00a0 Number 8, they\u2019re the basis of the sub covenants which we just had time to introduce but not go into.\n\nSo do you see what\u2019s happening here, what is being developed?\u00a0 This earthly kingdom that\u2019s coming.\u00a0 This is the mistake people are making, they\u2019re getting their whole understanding of the coming kingdom from Revelation 20:1-10 so they call us premillennialists a one-text theology.\u00a0 Oh, you guys are just getting that from Revelation 20.\u00a0 I can\u2019t think of more of a misstatement than to say something like that.\u00a0 Revelation 20 is just the end of the matter; the whole thing has already been developed, going back to early Genesis. Do you follow.\u00a0 We\u2019ll continue on this next time and talk more about these covenants.","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t