The Passover: Covenant of Eternal Life I

The heavens declare the Glory of God!

Fred R. Coulter—March 9, 2024

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Church News:

We're having finished up this week a second printing of the third edition of The Christian Passover book. So, if you want to have one mailed to you here pretty quickly, you send in your name, your address, call the office, e-mail us.

Another book: A Harmony of the Gospels. This will help you, especially if you want to coordinate the things concerning the Passover week of Christ. This has it all right there.

World News:

We've had some good news. The Supreme Court ruled 9-0, that you can't take Donald Trump off the ballot, wherever it is, in whatever state. So, that is good news, and we'll just have to wait and see how everything's going to work out.

We don't know how the election's going to turn out, but it should be quite a time that we're facing. Many are saying that this is the most critical election in the recent history of the United States. So, we'll see what happens.

*****

Remember that I told you about the great billionaires—Jeff Bezos, Leon Black, James Diamond, and the Walton family—sold $11-billion of their stock.

In the last two weeks, gold has gone up $200. Actually, it went up more than that if you go back a few more weeks before that. It went down to $1,864 for a while. Now, that's one thing I keep track of every day, because that tells me what's happening in the financial world.

So if you go from the $18.64 to $21.86 as it was yesterday, that is about $400, or about 20%. So, remember this, the inside people like these big guys, they know what's going to happen ahead of time. This reflects what's going to happen around election time.

We don't know what that will bring, but we also know that the debt that we have is so humongous with the government, with the states, with companies, with individuals, that it's almost impossible to work out.

The employment rate should probably be more, about 25%. I got a report showing that it is 24.9% if you use the method they used in 1988. That's when they changed how they figure the unemployment rate. So, we'll see what happens there.

We're facing inflation on the one hand, and we're also facing depression on the other hand. We might very well have an inflationary recession, which will be the worst of it all.

*****

Here's another thing in the news that we need to cover, it says, Red heifers ready for Temple by Passover? Another one was that they're going to build an altar on Mount of Olives. Well, the only altar they can build without the one that's in the temple is they have to take 12 large stones and make an altar out of that, and put the sacrifice on that.

Now, the red heifer has to be sacrificed and then burned to ashes. Those ashes are supposed to be used for cleansing. So, we'll have to see what happens with that.

*****

We need to pay attention to something that is happening here concerning immigration. The Biden administration admits flying 320,000 migrants secretly into the United States. This is deliberate, and a lot of people don't realize that this is the hand of God.

They only see the human being involved in doing it, but they don't realize that because all of those who call themselves Christians—all of the Christian leaders and all of the governmental leaders and all of the educational leaders—they are the instruments of destruction because they reject the true God!

*****

I also saw an interview by Elon Musk, and they were talking about A.I., and A.I. is going to be the undoing of everything. They are trying to create robots that will be nearly human. But you see, the problem is:

• they don't have independent free moral agency
• they have no consciousness of right and wrong
• they know nothing about the God of the Bible or the Laws of God.

What are they going to end up doing but creating miniature Frankensteins who can control them! So, keep your eye on that!

Elon Musk said in his interview that the only way we can control A.I. is to have absolute morality.

Only God has absolute morality! The question to Elon is:

• Who's going to set the 'absolute morality'?
• Are you?
• Who will accept it?
• Who will believe it?

Because every person has selective morality unless they follow God! The world won't do it.

*****

Watch this: First day of the week. What did I say about the calendar in Europe?

• 37 countries with 4-billion people start the week on Sunday; that's like the calendar we have today.
• 160 countries—roughly 3.3-billion—start the week on Monday

You've heard of the phrase 'the weekend.' How did they get the weekend when the 7th day is the end of the week and Sunday is the 1st day of the week? That's because they changed the calendar with the sequence of days so that now in Europe and almost all corporations, Sunday is the 7th day of the week according to them!

Now then, there's a movement in Europe to give everybody off Sunday free from work, which will be the start of Sunday enforcement and Sabbath attack. You wait, that will be coming!

*****

My message today is the Passover: Covenant of Eternal Life. What we need to understand about the Passover and everything about the Word of God, but in particularly the Passover, because the Passover is the point at which God begins dealing with individuals.

Revelation 13:8: "…the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world."

We need to look at this. The Passover is established right in the creation of the heavens and the earth, the sun and the moon, etc. It's interesting. We'll just project forward a little bit here: today the Jews keep the Passover on the 15th, not on the 14th.

For Pentecost they count from the wrong day, so their Pentecost or celebration of firstfruit is on the wrong day! What happens when people do things on the wrong day? They lose understanding!Isn't it interesting when you analyze what the Jews have done, they don't accept Jesus as the Messiah.

The correct Passover and Unleavened Bread, and the count to Pentecost, the correct Pentecost tells about the whole Plan of God with the Church today.

IF you don't keep it the way that God says and on the days that God says, THEN you won't understand. What does God say of the feast days that Israel has, which we have today in Christendom? All the pagan days! What does he say in Amos 5? Your feasts My soul hates. I despise your feasts!

Yet, everyone says to God, 'Look how nice we are. Look at with Easter coming up. Oh, what fun we have with the children. We dye the eggs. We make them pretty. We have baskets and we have chocolate Easter bunnies and chocolate Easter eggs. And you know, all the kids get together with mommy and daddy and they dye the eggs and paint them up and look real good.

They think this is good, this brings the family together! Isn't that wonderful?

Well, it brings the family together away from God! Likewise with their Christmas and their other holidays. He says the same thing in Isa. 1. God says, 'I despise your Sabbaths and your feasts.'

Now then, let's look at the real true connection from God to His people, because that's what the Passover is all about. Also, how the Passover is important, because it goes back in history and time and goes forward in history and time. So it is what you might call the fulcrum or the centerpiece of everything that God does so that men and women can be in contact with God.

• Is there anything greater than that?
• Is there anything greater than being able to receive from God His Holy Spirit? No!

As Norbert pointed out in his message—Honoring God in Our Strengths—God hasn't given it to the wise. I wonder what Elon Musk would think if I could sit down and talk to him and say:

Now, Leon, you have it absolutely right. We must have absolute morality. Who's going to do that? If you want absolute morality, then you've got to come to God, because only God has absolute morality, and it starts with the Ten Commandments. Then in order to be in contact with God, it begins with the Passover or what we know today as the sacrifice of Christ.

Lots of times we read the Bible, and we fail to notice things that are very important because we're looking at something else. So, let's pick up where I ended off in:

Revelation 13:8: "…the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." This was planned long, long ago in the Plan of God.

That wasn't even revealed—as we should know it today—to the Apostle Paul until late in his ministry. There were some things about halfway through his ministry, which we'll see in a minute, but here it is in some of the last things that he wrote, showing that everything that God has in His Word has come from Him.

As Jesus said, 'The words that I speak to you, they are Spirit, and they are Life, and the flesh profits nothing.'

The first verses of every Epistle of the Apostle Paul gives the introduction that this comes from God the Father and Jesus Christ. This is why it's important! We know the things that are important that we can understand it:

• if we believe God
• if we obey God
• if we love Him

Remember those three things always!

Titus 1:1: "Paul, a servant of God… [the Father] …and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect and the knowledge of the Truth that is according to Godliness."

That one verse tells us an awful lot about what God wants and what God is doing. Notice that this was not revealed until late in Paul's ministry.

Verse 2: "In the hope of eternal life, which God, Who cannot lie, promised before the ages of time.

Now we're living in the age of time that's getting close to the end of what the Bible says is the age of man on earth.

Verse 3: "But revealed in its own set time in the proclamation of His Word…"

So it's found in His Word. That's what we're going to examine today, and we're going to examine some things that we will say, 'How come we never saw that?' Well, we'll see it!

"…with which I was entrusted according to the commandment of God our Savior" (v 3).

2-Timothy1:6: "For this reason, I admonish you to stir up the gift of God that is in you by the laying on of my hands.

Receiving the Holy Spirit of God is the greatest thing that can happen in our lives. This is why God wants it all done according to His Word, as led by His Spirit.

Verse 7: "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of sound-mindedness."

That's a verse in itself that tells an awful lot about it, and if you want to know the sound-mindedness of it, start with the book of Proverbs. Then when you come to the New Testament, the sound-mindedness is to understand things God's way, not our way, God's way!

Verse 8: "Therefore, you should not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner; but jointly suffer with me for the sake of the Gospel, according to the power of God, Who has saved us and called us with a Holy calling…" (vs 8-9)—direct from God!

We need to understand now with the Passover coming, because God is dealing personally in each one of our lives, and God has given us the begettal of His Holy Spirit so we can become the sons and daughters of God and live in His Kingdom.

We're going to see a little later on, because I'm going to have Randy put in some clips of some photos of the universe from the James Webb website, and it's astounding what those will show!

Verse 9: "Who has saved us and called us with a Holy calling—not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the ages of time"

God hasn't called the wise, God hasn't called the mighty, but He has called us. Think about how great that is that even the most intelligent people in the world, though they may come close to some things.

I think one of the most notable intelligent people in the world is Victor Davis Hanson. He had more common sense, more understanding than any of the commentators anywhere on television. Now I don't know what he believes concerning God; he has never told us. But from what he is speaking, it sounds like that he gets a lot of it from the Word of God.

Even in that he's come close, but coming close is only effective to a certain point. What God has done, He gives a revelation. Now a revelation means that with His Spirit combined with His Word, which is Spirit and Truth, He gives us understanding in the times that He wants us to understand it, so we can have:

• faith in Him
• believe in him
• obey him
• love him

That's what the whole thing of the Passover is all about, as we will see.

Verse 9: "But according as it is written, 'The eye has not seen… [that means you're not going to see it by observing anything out there by just observation] …nor the ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.'"

Now that means none of the philosophers, and you can go to Acts 17 and see what Paul told the philosophers. These were the wisest ones in the world, and they had all of the wisdom from Babylon and Persia, and now in Greece they refined it. They thought they really had everything in understanding with their philosophies, but they didn't. Paul pointed out their ignorance by saying that, 'I saw your devotion to 'the unknown God,' so I'm going to tell you about Him."

So, here's what it is, "…prepared for those who love Him. But God has revealed them to us by His Spirit…" (vs 9-10).

What is it that we're going to see in the Word of God, and how it's laid out that relates to the Passover, that relates to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and hence then to salvation; not only ours, but for those of the world. How can that be past, present, and future? God will make it happen!

"…for the Spirit searches all things—eventhe deep things of God" (v 10). Think about that! How few there are that really:

• want the Truth
• love the Truth
• want to understand the Truth
• want to dedicate their thoughts, their minds and their lives to understanding the Word of God

• so that we can draw close to God
• so that whatever what God wants us to do, we will be equipped to do

Verse 11: "For who among men understands the things of man except by the spirit of man, which is in him?…. [that's the intelligence of human beings] …In the same way also, the things of God no one understands except by the Spirit of God."

They can write, they can study, they can think, just like Elon Musk stumbled across the great principle: In order to control A.I. we must have absolute morality. That is true. But how does he propose to bring it about? He also said that 'A.I. unleashes the demon spirit!' That is true.

The Bible would put it this way: A.I. is going to bring all the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil down through time and philosophy into our day and combine it in to the A.I., which has

• no consciousness
• no awareness of right and wrong

What will that do? That will bring about mass confusion among people to get as many to reject God as possible!

What about this with the Passover? Here's what we need to understand. We derive this from the Word of God by His Spirit. What I'm going to cover today, we've covered before, but we're going to look at certain patterns that we haven't examined in the same way. It's really going to be quite astounding indeed.

Verse 12: Now, we have not received the spirit of the world…"

Where does that come from? That comes from the combined spirit of man of all people and Satan the devil combined!

"…but the Spirit that is of God…"  (v 12)—God the Father!

We need to really think on this when we contemplate the Passover, that we're in covenant with God and He has given us His Spirit: from God the Father and Jesus Christ to us! Not just a religion so we can be better people, but so we can be in contact with God the Father and Jesus Christ and understand the Word of God and fulfill the purpose of our lives.

That can only be done with beginning with the Passover, the Covenant of Eternal Life, which He has given to us.

Now let's see something about covenants. How far back does the Word of God go? It doesn't tell us much before the Flood, but it unfolds for us step-by-step beginning in the Old Testament. For every covenant starts out with a promise. The promise is given to see if we will respond to that and follow God.

So, the same thing with us! Abraham was told to leave Chaldea. So, he took his father and everything and they went to Tehran. Then his father died. Then God asked him, 'Will you go to where I tell you to go?' Then He gives a promise.  Abraham obeyed.

Genesis 12:1: "And the LORD said to Abram, 'Get out of your country, and from your kindred, and from your father's house into a land that I will show you.'"

Now, it's the same thing with us. We are to forsake everything in the world for the sake of receiving eternal life. The land will become the kingdom.

Verse 2: "And I will make of you a great nation. And I will bless you and make your name great. And you shall be a blessing….[God is telling him this directly] …And I will bless those that bless you and curse the one who curses you. And in you shall all families of the earth be blessed" (vs 2-3).

Stop and think about that! All the families of the earth! That means going back in time, now going forward in time beginning with his life, coming clear down to Christ, from Christ, clear through all the Church era up to our time, and then into the Millennium and the Great White Throne Judgment. How's God going to do that? Starting with one man!

Verse 4: "Then Abram departed…"

Gen. 15—here is the first Passover. We will see that the promises of God come directly from heaven.

Genesis 15:1: "After these things the Word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, 'Fear not, Abram, I am your shield and your exceedingly great reward.'"

Here Abram is 75-years-old at this point. Now at 75 today, you're considered getting toward the end. But actually, Abraham lived 100 years more; he died at 175-years-old. Sarah died at 127.

Abram talked with God, and he was looking back at the blessing that was given, and it was said that he would be a blessing to all families of the earth.

Verse 2: "And Abram said, 'Lord GOD, what will You give me since I go childless, and the heir of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?'"

That was true, that the head of the house with no heirs could take one of his servants and appoint him as an heir. So, Abraham was thinking, 'Well, God, how are you going to work this out physically?'

Verse 3: "And Abram said, 'Behold, You have given no seed to me; and lo, one born in my house is my heir.' And behold, the Word of the LORD came to him saying, 'This man shall not be your heir…'" (vs 3-4).

This tells us that the Plan of God is not going to be worked out through human thought, but through what God wants. So He told Abram:

"…but he that shall come forth out of your own loins shall be your heir" (v 4).

God makes possible the impossible to fulfill His will!

Verse 5: "And He brought him outside and said… [so this is something that we can look at today] …'Look now toward the heavens and number the stars—if you are able to count them.' And He said to him, 'So shall your seed be.'"

Well, at that time, he could only see a certain number of stars and the sun and moon. Today, with the telescopes we have, we can see galaxies and galaxies and stars and stars beyond number, and it gives us a window into the eternity of time where God has created all of this. So, what he said 'going to be as the stars of heaven'...

Verse 6: "And he believed in the LORD..."

That was an impossible statement, right? As far as human beings are concerned. Lesson here is this, we believe God because He has said so. If He said so, it is as good as done! Do we realize that? When God says He has saved us, it's as good as done, but we have a lot to do between now and the resurrection.

Verse 6: "And he [Abram] believed in the LORD. And He accounted it to him for righteousness."

So then, after the promises, then comes the covenant. And this was where the covenant was made. All covenants need to be sealed with a sacrifice indicating the symbolic death of the one pledging the covenant, always!

We see that applies to our baptism when you understand it. Now, here's what's so important about it, that this happened on a two-day period, the 14th of the 1st month and the 15th of the 1st month. We find that confirmed in Exo. 13, 430 years to the self-same day!

Verse 7: "And He said to him, 'I am the LORD that brought you out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give you this land to inherit it.' And he said, 'Lord GOD, by what shall I know that I shall inherit it?'" (vs 7-8).

Now, the LORD didn't correct Abram for that statement, but then He demonstrated to him what He was going to do to make the promise a covenant. And when the promise is covenanted, then it is absolutely binding. Now, think of that in relationship to the baptism. We'll get to that a little later.

Verse 9: "And He said to him, 'Take Me a heifer of three years old, and a she-goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.' And he took all these to himself, and divided them in the middle…" (vs 9-10).

This is a special sacrifice. There was no altar. The animal is killed and cut right down the spine, and the two parts are separated. Why are the two parts separated? Because the one making the covenant—you can verify this in Jer. 34—and pledging what he will do under pain of death of these animals, which is symbolic of His death, He walks through them!

Now, that's quite dramatic, but that's what happened here. We will see Abraham did not walk through or between the parts. Because only God can bring salvation! That's what He's talking about. Only God can carry out the fulfillment of His promises.

Verse 11: "And when the birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, Abram drove them away. And it came to pass, as the sun was going down, that a deep sleep fell upon Abram … [this is typical of the time when Jesus died on the cross] …And behold, a horror of great darkness fell upon him!"

Abraham had a deep sleep likened unto death, so that he would know what God has done is absolutely sure and going to take place.

"…And, behold, a horror of great darkness fell upon him! And He said to Abram, 'You must surely know that your seed shall be sojourners in a land that is not theirs (and shall serve them and they shall afflict them) four hundred years'" (vs 12-13).

If you need to see the difference between the 400 and the 430 years, we have a chart online. You can look at it.

Verse 14: "And also I will judge that nation whom they shall serve. And afterward they shall come out with great substance."

That's all about the Passover with Israel and destroying the Egyptians and taking them down to Mount Sinai after going through the Red Sea.

Verse 15: "And you shall go to your fathers in peace. You shall be buried in a good old age."

That is true. Abraham lived to see Jacob two-years-old. So, he saw Isaac, and he saw Jacob.

Verse 16: "But in the fourth generation they shall come here again, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full."

Sidebar: How long does God put up with nations that are sinning before He actually brings His judgment? We don't know! Like us today, we don't know what's going to happen, but everything is kind of lining up like dominoes or bowling pins. We don't know when that bowling ball is going to come down, and we don't know how many of those pins are going to be knocked over. So, we don't know what's ahead of us:

• How full does the iniquity for the children of Israel here in America have to become before God brings His judgment?
• Do we have a little peace in between? Maybe for a little while!
• Do we have it upset at everything that we do? Yes, we do!

Verse 17: "And it came to pass—when the sun went down and it was dark…"

That's when Jesus was dead and put in the tomb. When He was put in the tomb that guaranteed that He would be there three days and three nights and fulfill the promise that He gave that He would be raised on the third day, and that He would be in the tomb three days and three nights. Two different statements side-by-side.

Verse 17: "And it came to pass—when the sun went down and it was dark—behold, a smoking furnace..."

I don't know what that was like. Maybe it was like kind of like a little whirlwind and the flame and everything going there. God devours things by fire.

"…and a burning lamp passed between those pieces" (v 17).

The burning lamp was a symbol of God because God Himself walked through, between those sacrificial animals. It was God's pledge and God's covenant! So, since God did it, how sure is it going to be? Absolute!

Verse 18: "In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, 'I have given this land to your seed, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates'"—and so forth all of them!

When Abram woke up from that, what did he see? Everything was burned to ashes! Now think what that did to Abram, who later was called Abraham, in his faith and belief to God! The promises came directly from God to him and his offspring.

Now then, we know what happened with the Isaac being born. Let's come forward to another Passover in Gen. 22.

We know what God told Abram, and this is probably right on the Passover Day itself. We don't know that absolutely for sure, but the timing looks very similar because this was where God told Abraham to take his son, his only son, the one He loved, and offer him for a burnt offering.

Now we don't know until Heb. 11 that Abraham counted God worthy of raising him from the dead. Now, at this point, it involved Abraham and his son Isaac, the son of promise. Isaac was not yet mature as a man, because he's referred to as a lad.

So, they came to the place where God said to offer him on Mount Moriah. So, here's what happened when they got there.

Genesis 22:6: "And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it upon Isaac his son…."

Isaac in this case is a type of Christ. The wood in this case is the type of the cross that Christ would bear.

"…And he took the fire pot in his hand, and a knife. And they both went together. And Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, 'My father.' And he said, 'Here I am, my son.' And he said, 'Behold the fire and the wood. But where is the lamb for a burnt offering?'" (vs 6-7). How are we going to do this, Father?

Notice what Abraham said. This is a great lesson for all of us. It doesn't matter how trying or difficult the experience or affliction we're going through may be. We still believe in God because He said He would do it.

Verse 8: "And Abraham said, 'My son, God will provide Himself a lamb for a burnt offering.' So, they both went on together. And they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and laid the wood in order. And he bound his son Isaac and laid him on the wood, upon the altar" (vs 8-9).

This also tells us another story, that there are many times that God will bring us right to what we think is the brink of the end. We don't know what's going to happen, and we don't know what kind of relief is going to be there. So, here it was!

I wonder what Isaac was thinking, laying there all tied up. It shows no account that he said a word to his father; no account that he complained to his father. But there it is, right there, last minute.

Verse 10: "And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. And the angel of the LORD called to him from the heavens and said, 'Abraham! Abraham!' And he said, 'Here I am.' And He said, 'Do not lay your hand upon the lad, nor do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me'" (vs 10-12).

Now then, we should not think of the strange thing for some of the trials and difficulties that we go through. Every single one of us in our relationship with God the Father, and in growing and overcoming and developing the character of God, will come to a point in our lives that the only thing we can say is, 'God, save my soul, because there's nothing else left.' That's what we have right here. God will intervene!

I know, I can tell you from experience myself and experience from many others that I know:

• God's Word is true
• God's promises are true
• what He does can always be trusted

and sometimes He waits till the very last minute!

Now, there's some people who are looking at what is happening to Trump, that's what God is doing to him. So, if that's the case, we don't know what Trump is going to go through or what he's going to be able to do if he becomes president. But a lot of that will depend upon the people, and a lot of that will depend upon his choices.

What he can do, we won't know. We can go by the example we have of the history of the kings of Israel and Judah, that if the king does really what is right, God will bless him. So we'll have to wait and see. Perhaps it will, perhaps it won't. If our sins are so bad, who knows? God may even take his life right away. We don't know.

A lot of it depends on the choices of the American people, and to some extent on the choices that collectively all the elders and people in the Churches of God trust God and come to Him. Won't be all at once, all together, but each one of us in our lives is coming to God on a daily basis. Here's what God did right at the last minute:

Verse 13: "And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram was entangled in a thicket by its horns…."

• How did that get there? {speculation}:

• Do you suppose that God specially created that ram?
• Did God specially create Christ, the One Who is the Word and divested Himself of His Divinity to become impregnated in the womb of the virgin Mary?

Special creation? Yes! So, it's very likely. Either way, there it was. He offered the ram. But let's see what took place. Isaac was relieved of being the offering.

Verse 14: "And Abraham called the name of that place The LORD Will Provide; so that it is said until this day, 'In the mount of the LORD it will be provided.'"

So now, carry that out as a promise to everyone who's trusting in God with all their lives and heart, mind and soul.

Let's see how this is absolutely secure. Then we will look at some of the Psalms that will parallel what we have covered here.

Verse 15: And the angel of the LORD called to Abraham out of heaven the second time, and said, 'By Myself'…'" (vs 15-16).

Think about it! Every epistle in the New Testament, along with the four Gospels, are talking about the purpose and ministry of Jesus Christ Himself, and that these words are given by God Himself, so we believe!

That's the great thing about the Word of God. Those who:

• love God
• keep His commandments
• trust in Him
• believe Him

will understand! But the world will never understand. They won't have a clue.

"…'By Myself have I sworn,' says the LORD, 'because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son; that in blessing I will bless you…'" (vs 16-17)—just like He promised!

So you have the promise, you have the covenant, and then the covenant is secured.  Same way with us. We hear if we repent of our sins and come to God, that's a start. God has promised to forgive our sins, that's the start. Then we're baptized and we're conjoined to the very sacrifice of Christ.

What we just covered here is a type of the coming sacrifice of Christ with the only son of Abraham, the only Son of God the Father!

Verse 17: "That in blessing I will bless you, and in multiplying I will multiply your seed like the stars of the heavens, and as the sand, which is upon the seashore. And your seed shall possess the gate of his enemies. And in your seed… [notice this is a repeat of Gen. 12] …shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice" (vs 17-18).

Gen. 26—here's Isaac after his father died. So, God appeared to him.

Genesis 26:2: "And the LORD appeared to him and said, 'Do not go down into Egypt…'"

Egypt is a type of sin, and Jerusalem today is called what? Sodom and Egypt. But that applies then extending out to the whole world. You look at Jerusalem today, what a mess, what a mess! There are so many different theories about everything.

Sidebar on Jerusalem—they've got so many tunnels dug under where the temple used to be, and where the Mosque of Omar is, that if there's a strong earthquake, I wonder if it's just going to collapse, because that's weak to have all those tunnels under there. They say that there are miles and miles of tunnels.

"…Live in the land, which I shall tell you of. Stay in this land, and I will be with you and bless you, for to you and to your seed, I will give all these lands; and I will establish the oath, which I swore to Abraham your father" (vs 2-3).

What Isaac received was what God promised to Abraham and to the promised seed, Isaac.

Verse 4: "And I will multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens…" That's the spiritual sons and daughters of God!

Doesn't it say in Dan. 12 that 'those that are righteous shall shine as the sun, and those who turn many to righteousness shall shine as the stars forever'? And didn't Jesus say That 'those in the Kingdom shall shine like the sun'?

So those are promises given that are way out there that will come at the time of the resurrection. You see how God is thinking. You see how God puts everything together.

"…and will give to your seed all these lands. And in your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because Abraham..." (vs 4-5).

Remember this verse when you're talking to any Protestant who says that 'there wasn't any Law from Adam and Eve on down to Mount Sinai.' Was Abraham before Mount Sinai? Yes, a long time before!

Verse 5: "Because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.'" There we go! Everything of God!

Let's come to the very first Psalm, because this tells you the introduction to Psalms; tells you what it's all about in this one short Psalm. It also tells you how we are to live by God's way.

Think about  all the promises that God fulfilled and did with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and so forth. Here we come on down to David, a man who was after God's own heart and who was yielded to God in everything!

Psalm 1:1: "Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the way of sinners, nor sit in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the Law of the LORD…" (vs 1-2).

Here we go, Elon Musk, absolute morality right here! This is what God demands of us through His Spirit, and He gives us the strength to do it.

"…and in His Law does he meditate day and night" (v 2). That ties in with Heb. 10 about writing and inscribing them in our heart and in our mind!

Verse 3: "And he shall be like a tree planted by the streams of water that brings forth its fruit in its season, and its leaf shall not wither, and all that he does shall prosper."

That doesn't mean we won't have trials. But if we overcome in the trials, we prosper.

Verse 4: "The wicked are not so, but they are like chaff, which the wind drives away. Therefore, the wicked shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous" (vs 4-5).

There's going to come a time of a complete separation of it all. We know in the Plan of God that also means getting rid of Satan and the demons. That applies to them. So look, this one verse in effect tells us all about the Plan of God!

Psa. 2—What do we have? The Messiah

Psalm 2:1: Why do the nations rage and the people plot in vain?…. [it's sure that way today] …The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the LORD and against His Christ…" (vs 1-2).

That's what we see actively going on. We've seen that down through time. Just like Norbert brought out concerning King Nebuchadnezzar, did that not happen to King Nebuchadnezzar? Bang! Seven years! Can you imagine what he looked like after seven years? It says his fingernails were like bird's claws, probably all curled, and his hair probably hanging down to his waist and all in bunches and everything.

"…against His Christ, saying, 'Let us break Their bands asunder and cast away Their cords from us'" (vs 2-3).

Just like today, we don't need God. We can save ourselves. All we have to do is get all good people together. Elon, where is the absolute morality coming from? It can only come from God, because all the rest are plotting against God! He sees it going on and:

Verse 4: "He Who sits in the heavens laughs; the LORD scoffs at them. Then He shall speak to them in His wrath, and in His fury He terrifies them. 'Yea, I have set My King upon Zion, My Holy mountain'" (vs 4-6)—Christ ruling the world!

So here's God's Plan! This is tremendous! You go through the whole Bible and you put all of these things together, and this doesn't come from just studying a little bit here and a little bit there. We have to devote ourselves to studying the Word of God and understanding it and understanding God's Plan and what He's doing. 

Verse 7: "I will declare the decree of the LORD. He has said to Me, '"You are My Son; this day I have begotten You.'"

That is the Promised Seed that was given to Abraham; that was Christ! You read in the first chapter of the book of Luke that Elizabeth—the aunt of Mary—when they were together. Read what they said about God and what they understood was happening in their lives. Think about it with both of them! It was a miracle for both of them!

Verse 8: "Ask of Me, and I shall give the nations for Your inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for Your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron…" (vs 8-9).

What is that? The seven last plagues, right here!

"…You shall dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel" (v 9).

Verse 10: "Now therefore, be wise, O kings; be admonished O judges of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry and you perish in the way, for His wrath can flame up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in Him" (vs 10-12).

So, that's a lot that we've covered right here in these two Psalms.

We'll end with the first part of Psa, 19, and then we will finish beginning next week with that. So from the James Webb website of the vast stars in the heavens. {note that this is seen on the video} That's connected to God's promises and our receiving eternal life. We have it right here in the 19th Psalm.

Psalm 19:1: "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament proclaims His handiwork."

• look at these vast pictures
• look at the colors
• look at the patterns
• look at what God has done

There are billions and billions and billions of these out there. This is the God Who deals in our lives! That's what we need to grasp.

We are in a Covenant of Eternal Life with Jesus Christ and God the Father. Think of it that way. And on your own computer, go on and look up the images that are there on that site.

Verse 2: "Day after day they pour forth speech, and night after night they reveal knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard" (vs 2-3).

Everyone looks up at the heavens and they all wonder. Now we have all of these things they're trying to do to go into space today, and Elon Musk is right in the forefront of it.

It's very interesting because in order for everything to work right, to get these things into space, they've got to be absolutely perfect. In other words, absolute morality in the law and the works of getting them into space. If not, remember what happened to those five astronauts that were blown up because it wasn't right?

So, my opinion is that God led a lot of those workers in creating everything to do the James Webb website so we can have that kind of thing to be inspired by seeing what God has promised.

Verse 4: "Their line has gone out through all the earth and their words to the ends of the world. In them He has set a tabernacle for the sun, which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoices as a strong man set to run a race, its going forth is from one end of heaven, and its circuit is to the other end. And there is nothing hidden from its heat" (vs 4-6).

Then notice what he shifts into, which we'll pick up next time, the Law of God is perfect! Don't you think that the Laws of God, who's a perfect God, would not give to us perfect laws, perfect things? Yes!

So this ties together, as we will see Psa. 19-22; that gives you a little preview and ends in the crucifixion. What did we find in Gen. 22? I think we'll see even more parallels as we go on!

Scriptural References:

• Revelation 13:8
• Titus 1:1-3
• 2 Timothy 1:6-9
• 1 Corinthians 2:9-12
• Genesis 12:1-4
• Genesis 15:1-18
• Genesis 22:6-18
• Genesis 26:2-5
• Psalm 1:1-5
• Psalm 2:1-12
• Psalm 19:1-6

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• Amos 5
• Isaiah 1
• Acts 17
• Exodus 13
• Jeremiah 34
• Hebrews 11
• Daniel 12
• Hebrews 10
• Psalm 20-22

Also referenced:

Books by Fred R. Coulter:

• The Christian Passover
• A Harmony of the Gospels

Message—Honoring God in Our Strengths by Norbert Bohnert

FRC:bo/po
Transcribed: 3/13/24

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