God's Glory Comes to Abraham
I've been thinking a lot bout the Abrahamic Covenant recently. (Genesis 15) Abraham was the first man God came to in vision. ..THE WORD OF THE LORD CAME TO ABRAM IN A VISION.. (Gen. 15:1b) Jesus is the Word of God. (Jn. 1) God, in His glorified form, burning power in brightness, personally came down to Abraham; the 'firebrand' of God's glory, the Shekinah; a 'flaming torch' of Messiah's presence. GOD WHO DWELLS IN UNAPPROACHABLE LIGHT appeared to Abraham, emanating His eternal power. He put Abraham in a trance state, a 'deep sleep' Scripture calls it, before appearing in this form to him.. (Gen. 15:12,15)
My personal opinion is that the Apostle Paul saw the same Glorified Messiah on the road to Damascus. He was struck blind by Jesus' Light of Glory. How did Paul describe this encounter with God Glory, the same Glory Abraham saw?: ABOUT NOON.. AS I WAS ON THE ROAD, I SAW A LIGHT FROM HEAVEN, BRIGHTER THAN THE SUN, BLAZING AROUND ME AND MY COMPANIONS. (Acts 26:13 NIV) .. AND I SAID, "WHO ARE YOU LORD?" AND THE LORD SAID, "I AM JESUS.." (v. 15a)
Jesus subsequently healed Paul by sending Ananias to pray for him. Paul had hated Jesus before, now He turned to love Him. Paul gave the rest of his life to Jesus. Jesus sent him far away from Jerusalem to proclaim 'Jesus Messiah is Lord' to the whole world. Paul says: "THEN I RETURNED TO JERUSALEM. WHILE I WAS PRAYING IN THE TEMPLE, I FELL INTO A TRANCE AND SAW THE LORD SAYING TO ME, 'HURRY UP AND GET OUT OF JERUSALEM..' THEN HE TOLD ME, 'GO, BECAUSE I WILL SEND YOU FAR AWAY TO THE GENTILES.'" (Acts 22:17,18a,21 ISV)
Abraham, the Father of the Faith, lived his life for the Lord too. He was faithful to God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. AND ABRAM BELIEVED THE LORD, AND THE LORD COUNTED HIM AS RIGHTEOUS BECAUSE OF HIS FAITH. (Gen. 15:6 NLT) Here is one of their beautiful encounters: WHEN ABRAM WAS 99 YEARS OLD, THE LORD APPEARED TO ABRAM AND ANNOUNCED, "I AM GOD ALMIGHTY. LIVE IN CONSTANT AWARENESS THAT I'M ALWAYS WITH YOU, AND BE BLAMELESS.." (Gen. 17:1)
Our Lord Jesus is with us, His followers always too. He said so before He ascended to heaven in the glorious cloud. Here are His last instructions to us: "TEACH THESE NEW DISCIPLES TO OBEY ALL THE COMMANDS I HAVE GIVEN YOU. AND BE SURE OF THIS, I AM WITH YOU ALWAYS, TO THE END OF THE AGE. (Matthew 28:20 NLT) May we be faithful to Jesus too, and live our lives for Him like Paul and Abraham did. Amen.
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