Christmas is a time when we remember that God pursued us with His covenant kind of love. We need to remember the faithfulness of God and how He has honored the word of His covenant when we celebrate Christmas!We need to know that we were helpless and spiritually bankrupt after Adam and Eve sinned against God. There was absolutely no other way for us to make ourselves stand right before a holy, righteous and just God based on self-righteousness. God had to righteously and justly find a way to restore mankind to Himself since man had chosen to willfully rebel against God. God chose to establish a covenant with a man so that the problem of spiritual lostness of man would become His problem through the covenant relationship.
Genesis 12:3 I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you;
And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
God had a plan to send Jesus as part of Abraham’s lineage when God told Abram that through him all the families of the earth will be blessed. Genesis 12:3 is a PROMISE, a PLAN and a DESIRE of God to have all the families of the earth to be blessed. Of course, the blessing that God was referring to was not just money but a restoration of the relationship with God. God wanted to be with His creation again. God desires to walk and fellowship with man daily.
Abraham was concerned regarding how the promise of being a father of many nations was going to come to past. Although Abraham was obedient to the call, it was very obvious that both of them had passed the age of child bearing therefore he asked God for an assurance.
Genesis 15:17-18 And it came to pass, when the sun went down and it was dark, that behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a burning torch that passed between those pieces. On the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying: “To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates—
Do you know that it is alright to ask God for an assurance through His word? God responded to Abraham’s concern by giving him the highest form of commitment during those days and that was through the covenant ritual. The ritual involved the splitting of animals into half, to have bloodshed, promises and curses were pronounced to ensure that the covenant partner would honor their word of the covenant. If someone were to dishonor the covenant then he would be hunted down, killed and cursed. It was the highest form of commitment that would help Abraham to understand the kind of commitment he had from God in human language or practice. God would never dishonor the commitment of the covenant. God was pursuing to restore mankind to Himself and He bound Himself to make it happen by establishing the covenant relationship. The wonderful news about the Abrahamic covenant is it is an unconditional covenant. It means God will bring the promise to pass without any prerequisite on us or the Israelites.
Sermon Series: Christmas – 2019
亚伯拉罕的盟约
圣诞节是我们记念上帝用祂爱的盟约尋找我们的时候。当我们庆祝聖誔节時，我们需要谨记上帝的信实和祂如何遵守祂盟约的话！
我们应当知道，在亚当和夏娃得罪上帝之后，我们变得无助且在灵里破产了。 在圣洁、公义、正直的上帝面前，我们绝对无法据自以为义而站立。因为人选择故意叛逆抵挡上帝，上帝必须公义和公正地找到一种方法，訨我们回轉归向祂自己。上帝选择与人立约，这样人的属灵迷失问题就能通过盟约的关系成为祂的问题。
创世记 12:3 为你祝福的，我必赐福与他；那咒诅你的，我必咒诅他。地上的万族都要因你得福。”
当上帝告诉亚伯拉罕，地上的万族都要因他得福时，上帝早已经计划派遣耶稣成为亚伯拉罕后裔的一部分。创世纪12：3是上帝的一个应许，一个计划和上帝的愿望，要让地上的万族得祝福 。当然，上帝所指的祝福不仅仅是金钱，而是复兴我们与祂的关系。上帝想要再次与祂所造的同在，渴望每天与人同行和团契。
亚伯拉罕所关心的，是成为多国之父的应许将如何实现。虽然亚伯拉罕顺服了上帝的呼召，但现实是他与撒拉两人都已过了生育的年龄，因此他向上帝求一个确据。
创世记 15:17-18 日落天黑，不料有冒烟的炉并烧着的火把从那些肉块中经过。当那日，耶和华与亚伯兰立约，说：“我已赐给你的后裔，从埃及河直到幼发拉底大河之地
你知道透过神的话我们是可以求问神的保证吗？上帝以最高形式的承诺来回应亚伯拉罕在那些日子时的疑虑，就是透过盟约的仪式。這仪式包括将动物劈开分成两半、流血、宣告承诺和咒诅，以确保盟约伙伴遵守他们的盟约。如果有人背弃了盟约，他将被追捕、杀戮和咒诅。这是最高形式的承诺，借由人类的語言和实践使亚伯拉罕理解上帝对他的承诺。上帝永远不会违背盟约的承诺。上帝在寻找人与祂自己合好，祂通过建立盟约关系的连结来实现这一点。关于亚伯拉罕的盟约的好消息是它是一个无条件的盟约。这意味着神会让我们或以色列人无条件地得到神的应许。
奖章系列：圣诞节 2019