WWUTT 1863 By Faith Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph (Hebrews 11:15-22)

Just as the Old Testament faithful were promised a heavenly kingdom, so we are given that same promise as well.

May our faith and trust be in the promise giver when we understand the text.

This is When We Understand The Text, a daily Bible teaching podcast. That we may be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the

Lord. Tell your friends about our ministry at www .wutt .com. Here once again is

Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. We're back to our study in Hebrews 11, walking through the

Hall of Faith. And I'm going to pick up where I left off yesterday, starting in verse 17 and reading through verse 22 out of the

Legacy Standard Bible. Hear the word of the Lord. By faith

Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac. And he who had received the promises was offering up his only son, to whom it was said,

In Isaac your seed shall be called. He considered that God is able to raise people even from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he also received him back.

By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau, even regarding things to come.

By faith Jacob, as he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph and worshipped, leaning on the top of his staff.

By faith Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the exodus of the sons of Israel and gave commands concerning his bones.

Now before we continue on, finishing up this portion with the patriarchs

Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, I want to come back to that section we concluded with yesterday. So let me read again verses 13 to 16.

All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.

Now, them here is in reference to the patriarchs. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were mentioned in the previous section, but we have their biographies, the short biographies in the portion that we're looking at today, verses 17 to 22.

So they were mentioned earlier and it is said that they died in faith. They didn't receive what was promised, because what was promised was going to come after their lifetimes.

But they saw these things from a distance, and as I said yesterday, that's not in terms of like, you know, area on the earth, it's in terms of time.

They saw it from a distance of time, and they confess that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.

This is not where I get my reward anyway. This is not where I'm meant to live my eternity out.

It's with God in glory. So verse 14, for those who say such things, make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own.

And indeed, if they had been remembering that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return.

But now they aspire to a better country. That is a heavenly one.

Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he prepared a city for them.

And as I said yesterday, that is the New Jerusalem, describing the church or the people of the

Old Testament and the New Testament together, with Christ forever in glory, on the

Old Testament side of the cross and the New Testament side of the cross, that we would be forever with God in Christ.

This portion of Hebrews right here, Hebrews 11, 13 to 16, this should guide so much of how we read the

Old Testament. How we read the promises in the Old Testament and apply them to the present.

You know, some preachers will say that we're supposed to unhitch from the Old Testament. Well, you're throwing out two thirds of the

Bible when you do that. How do we read these promises that God made to Israel? Do they have any relevance to us now?

Take for example, Jeremiah 29, 11, very, very popular verse. You probably hear it every graduation season.

Some student is going to send you a card with this verse on it. For I know the plans that I have for you, says the

Lord. Plans to prosper and not to harm you, to give you a hope and a future.

And we love that verse. We love how, you know, it pertains to the ambitions and dreams that I have.

And God is not going to harm me with my future. He's going to give me all of my hopes and dreams. A lot of times that's the way that we understand that verse.

Well, that's certainly an extreme and incorrect way to interpret Jeremiah 29, 11.

But there's another extreme way to interpret that verse. And that's to say that it only applies to Israel and doesn't actually have anything to say to us today.

I know the plans that I have for you, said God to a nation whom he was sending into exile because they had sinned against God and were worshiping idols.

They were concerned that being sent into exile meant that they were going to be annihilated. But God said to them,

I still have a plan for you, a plan to prosper and not to harm you. Now, that prosperity that they were going to receive was not going to happen in the lifetime of the persons who were hearing that promise made.

This was God speaking through Jeremiah, who was even speaking through his scribe Baruch, who was delivering this letter to those who were being exiled.

The promises that were being talked about there, they would not see those things in their lifetime. It wouldn't be for another 150 years that they're returning back to that place and rebuilding

Jerusalem and the temple. And then they see, ah, we got to come back here and even rebuild the temple of God.

Now, we would also apply a Christological application to that particular promise.

The plan to prosper you is also in the Christological sense because it's from you that the

Savior is going to come. So, of course, I'm not going to annihilate you and wipe you out. God is still going to fulfill the plan to bring the

Savior of mankind into the world through the line of Judah. So he's not sending them into exile to be annihilated or even be erased like many of those 10 tribes of Israel, the

Northern Kingdom, when the Assyrians came and drove them out or intermixed them with the other nationalities so that you couldn't even tell that they were

Israel anymore. God is saying to Judah, I'm not going to let that happen to you. You're going into exile, but I'm going to bring you back to this place.

God still had a promise, a hope and a future that he was going to fulfill in them.

So there's an immediate promise given to them. I know the plans I have for you to prosper and not harm you.

So there's an immediate promise there. You're not going to be annihilated. There's a bigger picture specifically as it pertains to Judah, a plan to prosper you, to give you a hope and a future, though that wasn't going to come about for a few generations.

And then there's even the ultimate promise as it pertains to the coming of Christ, which will be from your line.

So, of course, I still have that plan that I'm going to fulfill. Now, how do we read that?

Jeremiah 29, 11, how do we in this age on this side of the cross read such a promise?

How would it apply to us? Does it only apply to Judah? It was certainly said in that context, does it still apply to us now?

If we understand it through this interpretation that we're reading here in Hebrews 11, 13 to 16, we desire a heavenly kingdom.

And so God's promise to prosper us and not to harm us, to give us a hope and a future does not have to do with things in this world or in this life, just as it did not have to do with those things to the

Jews whom this was spoken to since they weren't going to see the fulfillment of that promise until generations down the road.

So we would read a promise like Jeremiah 29, 11, the same way God's plan to prosper and not harm us means that he has prepared for us a heavenly place.

There are Christians in the world being persecuted for their faith. If they read Jeremiah 29, 11 in isolation and they read, my plan is to not harm you, but to prosper you, they just read that by itself.

They're going, well, then what's happening to me here? I am being harmed for my faith. I believe the gospel.

I proclaim Christ and people are oppressing me because of that. So they would certainly feel like, well, that promise doesn't apply to me because I'm being harmed here.

But in the bigger scheme of things, when you recognize, hey, they may put you to death, you may get killed down here, but God's purpose for you is not to harm you.

They may kill your body, but they will not destroy your soul. The soul belongs to God and he will deliver you up into his eternal kingdom.

The prosperity that you will experience is far greater than anything you could ever receive in this world, even comfort, even comfortable living.

So we understand the promises in their proper context, God speaking to Israel, how does that apply to them?

But there is a way and there is an understanding and interpretation of that since these things that are

Old Testament, and we've been reading about this in Hebrews, the old covenant stuff was types and shadows that finds its fulfillment in Christ.

So now what does an old covenant promise look like to us who are in the church?

Read it through this lens of verses 13 to 16. It's important to understand the promise under the covenant in which it was given.

But then how does that promise apply to us in the new covenant? We're not looking for worldly blessing, an earthly plot of land.

We aspire to a better country that is a heavenly one.

Therefore, as we continue, as we persist in faith, just as these

Old Testament faithful did, God is not ashamed to be called our God and he has prepared a city for us.

Did not Jesus say to his own disciples, I go to prepare a place for you and I am coming back again to receive us to himself, that where he is, where Jesus is, as he said to his disciples, where I am, there you may also be.

So that's how these things apply to us. It's a great reminder to consider

Hebrews 11, 13 to 16, as you read and interpret and apply

Old Testament or old covenant promises to a new covenant. Now, again, you still got to do your context work.

You still have to understand those things in context so that you don't make the application in a wrong way.

But we still recognize the promises that God has for us. What he is fulfilling in Christ is not earthly blessing.

We certainly do receive earthly blessing. I mean, you have the comfort right now of knowing your sins are forgiven and you have fellowship with God and that your hope and promise is not in this world, which is passing away, but in a kingdom that is to come.

That certainly brings you a very present comfort. But the promises ultimately that God has for us is not in this world, but in the world to come.

So we continue on still following this example of the patriarchs that have been laid out for us.

Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and even Jacob's son, Joseph in verses 17 to 22.

By faith, Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac and he who had received the promises was offering up his only son to whom it was said in Isaac, your seed shall be called.

Now, this is, of course, the story of Abraham sacrificing Isaac in Genesis 22. Well, he didn't really sacrifice

Isaac. He was told to sacrifice his son, but God stopped him before Abraham could slay him.

Abraham had done everything that was asked of him, though. He took Isaac. He went to the place.

He prepared the altar. He bound Isaac and put him there on the altar, was just about to slay him before God stopped his hand.

So in everything that Abraham had done, he was fully obedient unto the Lord. This was a trial to test

Abraham's genuineness and strength in his faith. Was his faith in God?

Was his faith in the promise or was his faith in Isaac? Did he trust that in Isaac, the seed, the promise would be fulfilled?

And so he was going to do everything that he could to protect Isaac. And then his trust was in Isaac, and it was not in the one who gave the promise.

So testing Abraham's faith and that he would be the father of everyone who would come in his line, every descendant of Abraham.

And as we read about here in Hebrews, in Romans, in Galatians, everyone who is in Christ is the seed of Abraham.

We are all children of Abraham by faith in Jesus, who was the promised seed, the promised one who came from the line of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob so that whoever would put their faith in Jesus would become a child, a son or a daughter of Abraham, as talked about in Galatians chapter three.

So Abraham is our father, and he is our example by faith through this trial, through this test.

He did everything that God asked of him. And also there's a type and a shadow in the very sacrifice of Isaac, which wasn't really a sacrifice.

But, you know, all things considered, Isaac was or that very act there on Mount Moriah was a shadow, a type or a shadow of God giving his son.

Now, if Abraham had succeeded in slaying Isaac, it was not going to forgive Abraham of any sin or wrongdoing, because there's not any forgiveness of sins in the blood of bulls and goats, as we've read about in Hebrews.

So there's not going to be the forgiveness of sins in the slaying of any person either except one.

And that's the perfect sacrifice, the one who was without sin, Jesus Christ. Killing anybody is not going to forgive any one of their sins, but God crushed his own son.

Jesus gave his life. The father crushed him, as said in Isaiah 53, and it pleased

God. He's the propitiation for our sins, meaning that the wrath of God is satisfied in Jesus Christ.

And it would have been only in Jesus Christ, not in Isaac. Abraham was obedient to God in the testing of his faith.

God delivered him and delivered up Isaac. This boy that basically was dead there on the altar,

God delivers him up and brings him back from the dead, figuratively speaking, which the preacher even says here.

In verse 19, he considered, he being Abraham, considered that God is able to raise people even from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he also received

Isaac back. Abraham had faith in the promise giver.

And so, my friends, even through this act of Abraham, we likewise should have faith in the promise giver.

We have been given children. We have families in this world, people whom we love and are devoted to.

And very unfortunately, they will die, just like you will, just like I will. But we trust in the promise giver, that he has the power even to raise the dead.

And so, though we lose our loved ones, if they die in faith, they will be raised again as we will be raised again.

And we continue to put our trust in God, following the pattern of our father,

Abraham. Verse 20, by faith, Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau, even regarding things to come.

Because, remember, what's said back in verse 3, by faith, we understand that the worlds or the ages were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.

So, Isaac has a trust in a promise that God is going to fulfill.

And it's in light of those things that have not yet come to pass that Isaac blesses Jacob and Esau regarding things to come.

Now, the greater blessing, of course, was upon Jacob. He fooled his father into receiving the greater blessing.

He made Isaac believe that he was actually Esau. And so, Isaac bestowed the blessing he would have intended for Esau, but God intended for Jacob.

You know, that statement that was made in Genesis 50 -20 by Joseph to his brothers, you meant this for evil, selling me into slavery.

You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good, that he would bring about the salvation of many brothers, that he would save the many brothers from perishing in the famine that had afflicted the land.

So, as Joseph had said this to his own brothers, the same thing could be applied in the way that Isaac ended up blessing

Jacob instead of Esau. For Jacob, for this act that Jacob did, he lied.

He certainly sinned. But though he meant it for evil, God meant it for good.

That doesn't excuse Jacob's sin. It doesn't excuse Joseph's brothers' sins. But the wickedness that happens in this world,

God is ultimately using to fulfill his promise. There is a reason for this. And it's only believing that God is the promise maker and the promise giver, it's only in believing that, that you can understand that there is actually a good reason for the wickedness and the evil that is going on in the world today.

That doesn't justify the sin. It does not. God's judgment is still going to be upon those who do these wicked and evil things.

So, repent and turn to Christ lest you perish. But God is still sovereign and fully in control of everything that happens.

And even in the wicked and evil things that happen in this world, whether they afflict us or other people, all of these things are happening ultimately to a good end.

And we must trust in the promise giver and the promise keeper to know that these things are ultimately working out for our good, for those who love

God and are called according to his purpose, Romans 8, 28. Verse 21, by faith,

Jacob, as he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph and worshiped leaning on the top of his staff.

Now, that's a direct quote from Genesis 47, 31 in the Septuagint, which was the

Greek translation of the Old Testament. If you go back to the original Hebrew, it says that Jacob leaned on the top of his bed.

This is another one of those translation discrepancies that people argue about. Why did the preacher here reference the

Greek instead of the original Hebrew? But that's really irrelevant because the point being

Jacob leaned, it's a reference to his old age, that he was dying and yet worshiped

God because God was faithful to fulfill the promise that Jacob longed to see.

He saw it in his lifetime that his son was restored to him and he saw seed from his son,

Ephraim and Manasseh, who were the sons of Joseph, and Jacob blessed them. So God fulfilled his promise to Jacob.

But there were still things far off that Jacob did not get to see. His children did not return back to the land of Canaan.

They remained there in Goshen. They stayed there in Egypt, which, of course, would lead to the enslavement of the descendants of the brothers of Joseph, Joseph's sons, his brothers.

That would be the Israelites, the Hebrews, and they would be enslaved by the Egyptians. So they didn't get the chance.

Jacob, at least, did not get the chance to see his children return back to the land of promise. Of course, what

Jacob anticipated was not an earthly kingdom, but a heavenly one, just as we read previously in verses 13 to 16.

So by faith, Jacob trusted God and got to see the things promised at the end of his life.

Verse 22, by faith, Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the exodus of the sons of Israel.

Again, something that was going to happen hundreds of years later. But he asked that his bones not be buried in Egypt.

They would be buried in the land of his father's. Jacob was buried there. When Jacob died,

Joseph returned to the land of Canaan and buried his father there and made specific instructions that when the children of Israel would depart from Egypt, Joseph's bones would be taken and be buried along with his father's.

And sure enough, we read about that in the exodus, that they took Joseph's bones with them.

Joseph, who believed by faith that God was going to do something, the promise, the covenant that God made with Abraham, with Joseph's great -grandfather, he believed that God was going to fulfill this, that the descendants of Abraham would receive that land so that he made plans, he made preparations that his bones would be taken there and he would get to be buried there as well.

Again, these men all believed God for something that they would not get to see in their lifetime.

But God, the promise giver, was faithful to deliver. And they received a promise even greater than any earthly promise.

They received a heavenly kingdom. They aspired to a better country that is a heavenly one.

Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he prepared a city for them.

And my friends, he's prepared a city for you and me as well. Believe in Jesus and it will be credited to you as righteousness.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for these promises. And I pray we do indeed take these things to heart.

These things that are promised to us in the scriptures, we find fulfillment in Jesus Christ.

Come quickly, Lord Jesus. Deliver us into your kingdom. But for now, while we are here on this earth, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. You've been listening to When We Understand the

Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, Gabe will be going through a New Testament study.

Then on Thursday, we look at an Old Testament book. On Friday, we take questions from the listeners and viewers.