The Ultimate Test

Posted on January 1, 2025 by Don Merritt

Genesis 22:1-19

Everyone knows this story, and I’m sure you don’t need me to retell it: God told Abraham to offer his son Isaac as a burnt offering to God, and Abraham obeyed God’s instructions. At the last moment God stopped him and provided a ram as a substitute for the boy.

The theological implications of this scene could (and does) fill hundreds of volumes of scholarly discussion. Since we are looking at this through the lens of the Christmas story, I thought we might focus on these verses today:

The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time and said, “I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.” (22:15-18)

The entire story of Abraham is centered around the birth of Isaac, for Isaac was the key to God’s covenant relationship with Abraham− the Son of Promise. The Hebrews author tells us that Abraham’s faith was so strong by that time that he was thinking God would simply raise him from the dead if he had been sacrificed, and I’ll take his word on that. Yet Isaac, as critical a player as he was, was not the Son who would die for our sins and be raised again from the grave… but this story sure points us in that direction!

In this case, God provided the sacrifice in Isaac’s place, and in the case of the Son of God, God provided the sacrifice in our place: amazing.

The faith and obedience, yes obedience, that Abraham displayed in this scene resulted in God’s restatement of His promises to Abraham, a sort of confirmation of their covenant. Perhaps this took place because of Abraham’s lapses during the course of their relationship, or perhaps it was to instruct the generations that would follow; I don’t know. What I do know is that Abraham, as a model of faith for all of us, sets the bar very high in this scene, and I doubt strongly that any one of us could meet his standard; I know I wouldn’t.

Thankfully, God has already provided the last sacrifice for sins.

It would be easy for me to say here that we need more faith, and I would imagine everyone would agree with that. Yet it would also be a bit absurd, for faith isn’t the kind of thing you just pick up at the store, or force upon yourself. Faith is the natural outgrowth of relationship, in this case that would be relationship with our Lord and with others who follow Him; it is a lifelong pursuit and all of us are works in progress.

I suppose we could call it a journey; it certainly was a journey for Father Abraham.

Where will our journey take us in the New Year? That’s the real question.

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Posted on January 1, 2025 by Don Merritt

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Peter and Judas Have a Bad Night

Posted on December 31, 2024 by Don Merritt

Matthew 26:69-75

Quite a lot has taken place since Jesus told the disciples that they would disown Him. Quite a lot has taken place since Peter objected to that and Jesus told him he would deny Jesus three times that very night.

Jesus has been arrested, tried in a joke of a trial and been found guilty of blasphemy and condemned to die; Peter was outside listening to the proceedings. You might recall that when Jesus was arrested, Peter drew his sword and cut off the ear of one of the guards, but Jesus had stepped in to stop Peter, replacing the man’s ear. Then Jesus told the crowd off for not doing their foul deeds in public, and Peter, along with the other disciples had fled the scene.

The disciples had learned a great deal over the past few years from Jesus, but in spite of at least three warnings, they hadn’t quite gotten the point of Jesus’ mission as the Messiah; that He had come not to conquer the Romans and restore Israel as a Nation of the earth, but instead had come to conquer sin and death and establish a Kingdom not of this world. Jesus told the group about His real mission three times, each of which ended by Jesus telling them He was going die at the hands of the Jewish leaders, and then rise again from the grave on the third day. Yet in each instance, the disciples reacted to His death prediction and apparently didn’t notice the resurrection prediction.

Peter now knew that Jesus was about to die, but the resurrection part of the story still eluded him. Remembering Jesus’ words of earlier that evening, he now creeps off and weeps bitterly over his own rejection of his Master in front of those in and around the place of His trial. For Peter, relief from his agony was still far off, but he wasn’t the only one having a bad night; Judas, the betrayer was having a worse night.

Matthew 27:1-10

When Jesus was condemned by the Jewish leaders in a classic act of perfidy against God, Judas is suddenly filled with remorse for his actions. He went back to the chief priests and an exchange takes place that is nothing short of incredible:

When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders. “I have sinned,” he said, “for I have betrayed innocent blood.”

“What is that to us?” they replied. “That’s your responsibility.” (27:3-4)

The chief priest had what they wanted, they couldn’t care less either for Judas or for the righteousness that they prided themselves on and went out of their way to show off in public. Judas threw the money into the temple and then went out and committed suicide, so great was his remorse. Yet were the chief priests having second thoughts about these events? Well actually, yes they were:

The chief priests picked up the coins and said, “It is against the law to put this into the treasury, since it is blood money.” So they decided to use the money to buy the potter’s field as a burial place for foreigners. (27:6-7)

Yes sir, the chief priests did have some second thoughts; they couldn’t return the money to the treasury, for that would be unlawful!

Just let this sink in for a moment…

It wouldn’t seem that they had any problem with condemning an innocent man to death; their long awaited Messiah, no less, but they wanted to be sure they handled the returned bribe according to the rules, and they used it to buy real estate.

The sheer magnitude of their perfidy is almost incomprehensible.

What makes this even more incredible is that their action fulfilled the prophecy of Jeremiah (See Zech. 11:12,13; Jer. 19:1-13; 32:6-9). Are not the chief priests the very ones who should have known this?

Yes, of all the people they should have known what they were doing, and in fact, since they agreed it was blood money, I would suggest that they did know what they were doing, but they simply did not care, for on that night, they were on the payroll of Satan.

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More Adventures

Posted on December 31, 2024 by Don Merritt

God’s investigation of Sodom found that the outcry He heard was all too true, and He destroyed the city and everyone in it, except for Lot and his family. Sadly, Lot’s wife met her doom when she just had to look back and became a pillar of salt. Afterwards, Lot had some trouble with his daughters… and his troubles and travails continued. Of course, it’s hard to forget the choices Lot made a few chapters back.

Abraham and his clan moved on to Gerar and made a mistake or two…

Genesis 20

Abimelek was the king of Gerar, and for whatever reason, Abraham told Sarah they were going to try the old “she’s my sister” trick again.  Once again, she was taken into the household of a pagan king, and this time God intervenes quickly in the form of a dream with Abimelek:

But God came to Abimelek in a dream one night and said to him, “You are as good as dead because of the woman you have taken; she is a married woman.” (20:3).

In the dream God told the king to return Sarah to her husband unmolested, which he did.

Early the next morning Abimelek summoned all his officials, and when he told them all that had happened, they were very much afraid. Then Abimelek called Abraham in and said, “What have you done to us? How have I wronged you that you have brought such great guilt upon me and my kingdom? You have done things to me that should never be done.” And Abimelek asked Abraham, “What was your reason for doing this?”

(20:8-10)

For the second time Abraham has been found out and stands in shame before a pagan king, and this time, he makes the situation worse…

Abraham replied, “I said to myself, ‘There is surely no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.’ Besides, she really is my sister, the daughter of my father though not of my mother; and she became my wife. And when God had me wander from my father’s household, I said to her, ‘This is how you can show your love to me: Everywhere we go, say of me, “He is my brother.”’” (20:11-13)

It looks to me like there is more “fear of the Lord” in this pagan court than there is within Abraham at that moment; everything he has just said makes him look worse− what will become of him now?

Abimelek showed Abraham and Sarah a great deal more courtesy and respect than either deserved in 20:11-16 and I could be wrong, but I’m pretty sure he did so out of “fear of the Lord”. God healed everyone He had prevented from conception, and the scene ends, leaving me in wonder and amazement; what was Abraham thinking?

Whatever it was, once again God showed His faithfulness to all concerned, after all, Abraham was His covenant partner and Abimelek was an innocent party… and we have another message of hope for Christmas. No matter how we might wander from wisdom and good judgment from time to time, God remembers His promises, and works things out for His covenant partners. While I don’t think I’ve ever known a Christ follower who has erred quite like this, we all mess up, and I find comfort in this story.

How about you?

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Jesus on Trial

Posted on December 30, 2024 by Don Merritt

Matthew 26:57-68

Let’s all be very clear on one point: This trial was a joke. If you miss this point, then you miss the entire scene.

There really isn’t much left to be said. Notice that they were looking to convict Him of something, anything, based upon false evidence and false witnesses (26:60) and even by cheating, they couldn’t manage the job. Then, they catch a break when two men came forward to say: “This fellow said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days.’” And the chief priest jumps for his chance: “Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you?” (26:62), Jesus remains silent.

In verse 63, he asks Jesus if He is the Son of God. Jesus, the Suffering Servant, breaks His silence and actually helped them out:

You have said so,” Jesus replied. “But I say to all of you: From now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.” (26:64)

That did the trick; the trial was over.

It seems that our old friend Peter was lurking in the background; I wonder what he was thinking at that moment as Jesus was found “worthy of death” for telling the truth to the Jewish leadership. We will get some insight into his thinking in the next scene, next time.

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High Level Negotiation

Posted on December 30, 2024 by Don Merritt

Genesis 18:16-33

For me, this passage is amazing, one of the most amazing in all of Scripture. I say this for two reasons, first because we see into the mind of God as he considers what to do next and second because we see Abraham actually influencing, to some degree, God’s plan through his intercession.

The visit mentioned in the previous post has ended and the Three are leaving Abraham’s place to go into town, for they have received information about the terrific conditions in the city of Sodom; they intend to investigate these allegations. As they are walking, the Lord considers whether or not He should tell Abraham what their mission is (18:16-19).  Then the Lord seems to have decided to brief Abraham and he said:

“The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know.” (18:20-21)

For most of us, we think of Sodom and Gomorrah as places full of wild sex parties of all sorts, but that wasn’t what the “outcry” was really all about. If you read carefully the passages dealing with Sodom, you will see that the wild carrying-on included mass rapes involving children and whole families; this place was no pleasure den, it was a house of horrors. Yet there was an outcry, so not everyone was willing to indulge, and hence, the Lord wants to investigate before acting.

In 13:22-33 Abraham enters the picture and asks God not to judge the innocent with the guilty, asking that he spare the city for the sake of 50 righteous, then 40 and step by step on down to 10 righteous, and God agrees. God’s purpose in judging remains the same; if this is true, then He will put a stop to it, but He will spare those who were not part of the debauchery.

Abraham was cited multiple times in the New Testament as a model of faithfulness. Abraham had a relationship with God, a covenant relationship, and when he went to God to intercede on behalf of the righteous of Sodom, God granted Abraham’s requests− He answered Abraham’s prayers.

As followers of Jesus Christ, we have a relationship with God, a covenant relationship. We also can have access to His presence to bring intercession for the righteous in various situations. What does this story tell us about God’s willingness to hear our prayers for the righteous?

Yes, exactly, there’s some Christmas hope for you!

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God Drops by for Dinner

Posted on December 29, 2024 by Don Merritt

Genesis 18:1-15

I must admit that it felt kind of weird typing the words “God drops by for dinner”, but that’s what happened. Abraham was sitting outside his tent one day when he sees three men approaching; they were God− Father, Son and Spirit.

No, I don’t think it was God and two bodyguards; what would He need bodyguards for?

Being a gracious host, Abraham offers something to eat and drink, and they accept. He tells Sarah to get busy baking bread; he selects a perfect calf and tells a servant to prepare it for roasting; the Three would be there for the day it would seem, for it takes a long time to go from flour to bread and from a living calf to a roasted one… They would be visiting for quite some time just as close friends like to do.

I wonder how often we spend time with God just visiting…

Abraham returns to his Guest with milk and curds. “Where is Sarah?” He asks. (Notice they knew his wife’s new name).

Abraham says that she is in the tent.

Then one of them said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.” (18:10)

Sarah, listening at the opening of the tent (wasn’t she supposed to be making bread?) chuckles to herself at the thought of becoming pregnant at 90 and the Lord wanted to know why she was laughing− she lied. “Yes, you did laugh” was the Lord’s reply…

The Christmas Story is all about an impossible birth, and so is Father Abraham’s story. From an earthly point of view, neither story can be true, and ever since that time, people who do not have ears to hear, have dismissed both as mere myth. Yet both really took place, for nothing is too hard for our God. Abraham’s is a story of promise, the Christmas Story is a story of promise fulfilled and I can’t help but think that of all seasons of the year, this is the most hopeful, for if nothing else it reminds us of the hope we have in Christ… if only we could stop hustling and bustling long enough to have eyes that see.

We’ll pick up the story here next time, and when we do, we will have a rare glimpse into the mind of God at work: see you then!

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Covenant Terms

Posted on December 28, 2024 by Don Merritt

Genesis 17

On a certain day Abram was going about his business as usual when God came to him out of the blue…

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty; walk before me faithfully and be blameless. Then I will make my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers.” (17:1-2)

For the first time in the relationship, God is giving Abram covenant terms (conditions) that he must follow, beginning in verse 1 with “walk before me faithfully and be blameless.” In the next several verses (3-8) God promises Abram that he will not only have a son, but that he (Abram) will be the father of many nations, and changes his name to Abraham. As the father of nations, he will also be the ancestor of kings, and God’s covenant will extend to all of Abraham’s descendants, and those of his entire household. The land of Canaan will be their homeland and they will take possession of it, something Abram had not yet been able to do. There is another condition as well, for all males must be circumcised.

In 17:9-14 God makes it abundantly clear that each and every male must be circumcised as a sign of the covenant, including anyone in the household who is not a blood relation, and that if they do so, God will be their God, and the God of their descendants. If they do not do so, they are to be cast out.

Sarai is also to be blessed, for she, in spite of their ages, will bear a son through whom the covenant will pass to future generations; her name was changed to Sarah.  Abraham’s reaction was to laugh, for how could they produce children at their ages? He suggested that Ishmael could be the son through whom the covenant would pass, but God, while willing to bless Ishmael with a great nation of his own, insisted that Abraham and Sarah would have the Son of Promise; they would name him Isaac, and he would be born within the year. To his everlasting credit, Abraham stopped laughing and was circumcised on that very day, along with all of the males in his household.

Let’s take just a moment and ask ourselves a simple question: Why did God wait around until Abraham was 99 and Sarah was 90 to fulfill His promise to give them a son − was He too busy in another galaxy or something?

While we’re asking ourselves questions, let’s ask another one: Why did the Son of God come to earth as an infant born to a teenager in a manger in Bethlehem, instead of coming on the wings of angels into downtown Jerusalem?

I can suggest one answer: God’s power is best seen when the humans in the picture are weakest. Certainly, a son born to a 90- year-old, fathered by a 99 year old, is just as unlikely as a child born to a virgin, for as we know, both are not possible in the normal course of events.

In both cases there would be no doubt that God Himself was responsible for the birth of a promised son.

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Arrested!

Posted on December 27, 2024 by Don Merritt

Matthew 26:47-56

As Jesus was saying the words of 26:46, the party sent to arrest Him is entering the scene with Judas in the lead. In the events that follow, there are a few actions that have an almost comical quality to them, even though this is serious business. Judas had a sign for the arresting party: ‘Grab the one I kiss.’ So old Judas walks up to Jesus as though everything was completely normal and says, “Greetings Rabbi,” and kisses Him. Now to be quite sure, this was a normal sort of greeting back in the day, but I almost want to laugh at the comic nature of it. Judas came onto the scene at the head of an armed mob, and pretends nothing is amiss, even though Judas Knew that Jesus knew what he was up to− incredible.

Jesus was placed under arrest, and then lo and behold, who should produce a sword and start swinging it? Our pal, Peter! Peter’s action should get high marks for courage, low marks for intelligence, and failing marks for understanding. Yes, it was courageous, maybe even heroic, but if a battle were to follow, Jesus and the Eleven are dead right then and there. But then Jesus, from Peter’s point of view, is a sort of “wild card”; what would He do in the situation?

Jesus stepped in instantly, and put a stop to the whole business of violence, heals the man that Peter had struck, and tells Peter to stand down. Perhaps reading Peter’s mind, Jesus said:

Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way? (26:53-54)

If you wonder about such things, 12 legions of angels would produce about 75,000 very unhappy angels, but the cavalry would not be coming to the rescue on that night, for God’s will went in a different direction. Then Jesus addressed the mob that had come to arrest Him:

Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come out with swords and clubs to capture me? Every day I sat in the temple courts teaching, and you did not arrest me. But this has all taken place that the writings of the prophets might be fulfilled. (26:55-56a)

Actually, that He was leading a rebellion was most likely exactly what everyone thought, for they saw Him as the son of David come to reclaim the throne; the Messiah come to conquer and restore Israel to greatness, the King of the Jews. Jesus rubbed their noses in their error by pointing out that they could have grabbed Him at any time, but they had waited until now, under cover of darkness, and with that, Jesus would address the crowds no more; He went away quietly and meekly to do His Father’s will and accomplish the real mission of the Messiah.

That was also when His disciples finally comprehended that His mission was not conquest and the reinstatement of the Nation of Israel among the Pantheon of Nations. Of course, that is not to suggest that they yet comprehended what His mission really was; that would come later. Many scholars have written that they believe this also included Judas, who might well have been shocked that those legions of angels did not come. These scholars believe that Judas betrayed Jesus to force the issue and get Jesus’ messianic mission completed more quickly, a sort of helping push in the right direction.

For me, that’s a bit of a stretch too far, but it is an interesting theory. Whatever motivated Judas, there was no going back now and old Judas was in a very bad state, as the whole of Creation held its breath…

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Human Custom, Tradition, and God’s Promises

Posted on December 27, 2024 by Don Merritt

Genesis 16

The Christmas Story would never be complete without an examination of the friction between human customs and traditions, and the promises and ways of God. In our text, Sarai is getting old, yet she has never conceived a child. She knows that God has promised a son to her husband, but so far, God hasn’t come through with the heir. Custom in those days dictated that if an important person like Abram didn’t have an heir by his wife, then she could conceive a child through her slave girl, and Sarai encouraged Abram to use this option− to help God get the job done, one might say. Abram took his wife’s advice, and Hagar, the slave girl, became pregnant.

From this point forward, there would be no end of grief for Abram and Sarai; there are consequences to such things as they had done.

Hagar, realizing that her stock was rising, became unpleasant with her mistress, and Sarai complained of this to her husband who seems to have tried to wash his hands of the entire matter. Sarai sent the pregnant Hagar away into the wilderness… where Hagar had an encounter with the angel of the Lord. It would seem that God was disapproving of such treatment as Hagar had received at the hands of Sarai.

For our purposes in this survey, I will leave the details of this continuing saga for you to read on your own should you choose to do so. I must point out however, that there is a great lesson for us to apply as we celebrate Christmas, for in doing so, we must come face to face with the awesome promises of God, promises that have been fulfilled as well as a few which have yet to be culminated. At the same time, we deal every day with human custom and tradition, especially at this time of year, and sometimes these come into conflict.

I am curious to see if you have any thoughts on this: This Christmas season, when custom, tradition and God come into conflict− which will we choose? I know that in my personal case, I always say that I will choose God’s promises over tradition and custom, and yet I often find myself under pressure to compromise so that we can have both. There’s always a way to justify doing things, don’t you agree?

Yet this is what Abram and Sarai did, they compromised, and they came to regret that compromise, in fact it nearly tore them apart at one point.

Or… maybe you don’t see any conflicts at all. If so, I’m sure we’d be interested to hear about that view as well.

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