Life Capsule for Today August 14, 2023
Theme: Joint Heirs with Christ (2)
Memory Verse: Rom 8:17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
Topic: God providing a lamb for himself
Today’s Reading: Gen 22:12-18
Gen 22:12 And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.
Gen 22:13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.
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Gen 22:16 And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son:
Gen 22:17 That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;
Gen 22:18 And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.
Words of the Ministry:
As time went by, God fulfilled his promise to Abraham by giving him a heir from his loins. God after some years chose to test Abraham’s faith, he asked Abraham to sacrifice his son, his only son who was to be his heir and carry the blessing on Abraham after his demise, God asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac to him. On hearing the instruction, Abraham quickly obeyed, he embarked on a three-day journey. While on the trip to make sacrifice, the conversation in Gen 22 ensued between Abraham and Isaac.
I would like us to pay particular attention to the unfolding episode as it would help our understanding in days to come. Isaac asked Abraham that the fire and wood is handy but there is no lamb for the sacrifice, on hearing this Abraham answered by saying God would provide for himself a lamb for the sacrifice, that should bother us as God is not the one doing the sacrifice and normally whoever needs to sacrifice provide the lamb. I thought he should have rather said, God would provide a lamb for us. This response seems to suggest that just as God was testing Abraham, Abraham on the other hand was testing God based on his promise that his seed would be a blessing to the world. We would later see that the provided ram served two purposes, one as a replacement for Isaac and secondly as a sacrifice for God.
Eventually we see from the passage that God did provide a lamb for himself, the animal died in place of Issac who was a type of Christ and after the sacrifice, God said now he was convinced Abraham loved him indeed and then began to bless him, a blessing which would pass unto several generations even till the time of Jesus Christ (Gal 3.14). We have seen from today’s lesson that Abrham’s test was not just a test of faith but an opportunity to receive the blessing and that the lamb of God was the needed sacrifice to die as sacrifice for God and as sacrifice for Isaac who would later inherit the blessing. That sacrifice was necessary to allow God to pronounce the blessing. Join us tomorrow as we explore the meaning of joint heirs.
Join us for a special 2 day Program in August with the theme, Supernatural Shift. The event comes up on Saturday 26th and Sunday 27th of August by 4pm at Suite A10, Asher Office Complex, opposite Hassan Stores, Arab Road, Abuja. We also have our weekly Word Feast (Bible Study) and Prayer Gym (Prayer Meeting) every Wednesday and Saturday at the same venue at 5pm and 7am respectively, shalom.
Bible in one year: Jeremiah 1-3
For further fellowship send us an email on godmanvideos@gmail.comor visit our youtube channel: @godmanmedia. You can also interact with us by dropping your comments on our facebook page. Our physical meeting (PENIEL) comes up once a month, every last Sunday of the month from 4pm to 6.30pm at Suite A10, Ahser Office Complex, opposite Hassan Stores, Arab Road, Abuja