Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 1046 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

I am Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

When Abraham Met Jesus – Wisdom Wednesday

Wisdom – the final frontier to true knowledge. Welcome to Wisdom-Trek where our mission is to create a legacy of wisdom, to seek out discernment and insights, and to boldly grow where few have chosen to grow before.

Hello, my friend, I am Guthrie Chamberlain, your captain on our journey to increase wisdom and create a living legacy. Thank you for joining us today as we explore wisdom on our 2nd millennium of podcasts. This is Day 1046 of our trek, and it is Wisdom Wednesday.

Creating a Biblical worldview is important to have a proper perspective on today’s current events. To establish a Biblical worldview, you must also have a proper understanding of God’s Word. Especially in our western cultures, we do not fully understand the Scriptures from the mindset and culture of the authors. In order to help us all have a better understanding of some of the more obscure passages in God’s word, we are investing Wisdom Wednesday reviewing a series of essays from one of today’s most prominent Hebrew Scholars Dr. Micheal S. Heiser. He has compiled these essays into a book titled I Dare You Not to Bore Me with the Bible.

The father of the Israelites, Abraham, lived 2000 years before Christ came to earth to dwell as a human. How could Abraham have possibly met Christ? In today’s essay, we will explore passages that show…

When Abraham Met Jesus

Some of the most startling things in the Bible are hidden in plain sight. Galatians 3:8 is a case in point. Amid the predictable focus on law, grace, and the gospel, Paul blindsides us, “What’s more, the Scriptures looked forward to this time when God would make the Gentiles right in his sight because of their faith. God proclaimed this good news to Abraham long ago when he said, ‘All nations will be blessed through you.’”

But Abraham lived two millennia before Jesus. There’s nothing about a crucified Savior in the stories about Abraham. What is Paul thinking? To correctly process Galatians 3:8, we need to think about the gospel in different terms.

We typically think of the gospel in terms of the crucified Savior, Jesus, dying for our sins. But the work of Christ was just the means to accomplish what God sought. God wanted a sinless, holy, human family. The sacrifice of Jesus—fully God and fully human—was the necessary mechanism to achieve that larger goal. The gospel is God’s plan to become a man so He could have that holy, human family. Could Abraham have grasped that?

God’s decision to produce His family through Abraham is described in Genesis 12:1-3, “The Lord had said to Abram, ‘Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you.  I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others.  I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.’”

Paul quoted part of that passage in Galatians 3:8. Paul believed that as a result of that divine encounter, Abraham came away with the knowledge of the gospel that God would become a man to provide the means for a human family. Even more than that, Abraham discerned that he and his offspring—which didn’t yet exist, and which seemingly couldn’t exist—were a critical part of that plan. Was Paul reading a different Old Testament than us? No, Paul got his information about the good news where all the gospel writers did—Jesus (Galatians [1:12]: 1 Corinthians 15:8).

If John 8:56 is any indication, Jesus happened to be an authority on Abraham’s divine encounter with God, “Your father Abraham rejoiced as he looked forward to my coming. He saw it and was glad.” The Jews listening to Jesus immediately understood Him to mean that He had met Abraham. That’s why they said in the next verse John 8:57, “The people said, ‘You aren’t even fifty years old. How can you say you have seen Abraham?’” They were actually right on both counts.

We know that John referred to Jesus as the Word (John 1:1).  Less well known is that the “Word of the Lord” is at times an Old Testament description of the embodied God of Israel. For example, Jeremiah was visited by “the word of the Lord” (Jeremiah 1:2-4) whom he called “Sovereign Lord” (Jeremiah 1:6). The Lord God, the Word, is embodied in human form in Jeremiah 1:9, “Then the Lord reached out and touched my mouth and said, “Look, I have put my words in your mouth!”

There are other such passages in the Old Testament. One of them is Genesis 15:1 where the covenant promises between God and Abraham were sealed, “Some time later, the Lord spoke to Abram in a vision and said to him, ‘Do not be afraid, Abram, for I will protect you, and your reward will be great.’” Notice that this was a vision. In Genesis 12:7, the passage Paul quoted in Galatians 3, has the same language but a physical component, “Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, ‘I will give this land to your descendants.’ And Abram built an altar there and dedicated it to the Lord, who had appeared to him.” Paul wasn’t out of his mind. Abraham had met the Word, and through that encounter, he understood the salvation plan of God.

That will conclude our essay for this week. Next Wisdom Wednesday we will continue in the New Testament as we look at Dr. Heiser’s next essay titled “How Many Times is Jesus Coming Back?” I believe you will find this another interesting topic to consider as we build our Biblical worldview.

Tomorrow we will continue with our 3-minute humor nugget that will provide you with a bit of cheer and help you to lighten up and live a rich and satisfying life. So encourage your friends and family to join us and then come along with us tomorrow for another day of our Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.

If you would like to listen to any of our past 1045 treks or read the Wisdom Journal, they are available at Wisdom-Trek.com. I encourage you to subscribe to Wisdom-Trek on your favorite podcast player so that each day’s trek will be downloaded automatically.

Thank you so much for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and most of all your friend as I serve you through the Wisdom-Trek podcast and journal.

As we take this trek together, let us always:

1. Live Abundantly (Fully)
2. Love Unconditionally
3. Listen Intentionally
4. Learn Continuously
5. Lend to others Generously
6. Lead with Integrity
7. Leave a Living Legacy Each Day

I am Guthrie Chamberlain reminding you to Keep Moving Forward, Enjoy Your Journey, and Create a Great Day Everyday! See you tomorrow!