Abraham Father of Arab Nation Not Muslim Religion

When the water in the skin was gone, she put the boy under one of the bushes.  Then she went off and sat down nearby, about a bowshot away, for she thought, “I cannot watch the boy die.”  And as she sat there nearby, she began to sob.  God hearing the boy crying, and the angel of God called Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there.  Lift the boy up take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.”  Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water.  So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.  God was with the boy as he grew up.  He lived in the desert and became an archer.  While he was living in the Desert of Paran, his mother got a wife for him from Egypt. (Genesis 21: 15-21) 

Abraham did not want to send Hagar and Ishmael away, and yet that was Sarah’s wish and God ordained it.  You see Ishmael was born of the flesh, not the promise of God, which was of the Spirit.  When Isaac was born, he was the fulfillment of God’s promise and would be come the father of the nation of Israel, through his son Jacob (Israel).

     Remember, the angel told Hagar her son would be a wild donkey of a man and his hand would be against everyone and everyone’s hand would be against him.  The Lord also told Abraham Ishmael would have twelve sons and become a great nation, that nation today is known as the Arab Nation.  The history of the Arab nation is one of warring amongst themselves for centuries as for told to Hagar when she was pregnant with Ishmael.  Through all the years there is one common denominator that they hold, that is disdain with jealousy toward their half brother Israel.

     The founder of Islam, Mohammed, was to trace his own direct descent from Kedar, of the twelve tribes of Ishmael. Mohammed founded the Islam religion around 610 AD in Mecca, which is currently in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Kedar is one of those tribes, known to the Hebrews as the Qedar.  The tribe of Kedar is also mentioned in the annals of Ashurbanipal, with whom they clashed, and in various other Assyrian documents.  In these, the men of Kedar are mentioned in close association with the men of Nebaioth. The Lie Whisperer of course would have the world believe otherwise, just as he would have you believe that the Muslim religion is a religion of peace, which contradicts the writings of Mohammed.  Know this about the Lie Whisperer, he is jealous toward God.  Because of his jealousy he will do anything to discredit God, His creation, and His plan of redemption for man through His Son Jesus Christ.  He is also an imitator, notice Ishmael had twelve sons and remember Ishmael’s birth was of the flesh not the promise of the Spirit from God.  The bottom line is that Islam is not a path or the path to God Almighty, Jesus told us in John 14:6 in response to Thomas’ question about knowing the way.  “Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.” 

                       Dale LaFrance                (please look up Genesis 22:1-18)                

We Are an Impatient People

     Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children.  But she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar; so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children.  Go, sleep with my maidservant; perhaps I can build a family through her.”  Abram agreed to what Sarai said.  So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian maidservant Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife.  He slept with Hagar, and she conceived.

(Genesis 16:1-4) 

One needs to go back to chapter 15 of Genesis to understand why all this has happened, however I will attempt to fill you in, though I recommend you read that chapter for yourself.  You see God had made a covenant with Abram (Abraham) and promised him that he would be the father of a great nation with descendants that would be as numerous as the stars in the night sky.  God also promised him that four hundred years later his descendants would be removed from where they had been enslaved and brought to the very place where he was standing to inherit the land, which is now present day Israel.  When the Lord initially promised Abram that he would have a son, both he and his wife were already advanced in years.  God made a promise; He cannot lie or break His promise; that would go against His character since He is the very essence of truth.  The Lie Whisperer would have us believe otherwise, the way he did this through Abram and Sarai was through their impatience with God’s promise.  We are an impatient people, how many times have we felt that God wasn’t moving fast enough, so we then step in to help God speed things up. 

     It was a common practice in that day for women to give their maidservant to their husband in hopes that a child would be born through that union, the wife would then take the child after it was weaned and raise it as their own.  Such was the case with Sarai who gave Hagar to Abram and a child was conceived, this child though was not of the promise of God, it was in the flesh.  Remember the promise was that Sarai would have a child not her handmaiden.  Hagar’s name translates into “flight” and that is exactly what she did when she found out she was pregnant. The women began to despise each other, Sarai blamed her husband, and then mistreats Hagar who then fled from Sarai into the wilderness where an angel of the Lord finds her and begins to address her in Genesis 16:8-12.

     And he said, “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?”  “I’m running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered.  Then the angel of the Lord told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.”  The angel added, “I will so increase your descendants that they will be too numerous to count.”  The angel of the Lord also said to her:  “You are now with a child and you will have a son.  You shall name him Ishmael, for the Lord has heard of your misery.  He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.”  Next week we will see the significance of the impatience of Abram and Sarai and how the birth of Ishmael is of the flesh and not the spirit, which is the promise of God.

                       Dale LaFrance                (please look up Genesis 15)                

One Day No More

Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple.  And He who sits on the throne will dwell among them.  They shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any heat; for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters.  And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. (Revelation 7:15-17)  Currently we all live in a world that is afflicted by sin that came from the fall of man in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve chose to disobey God.  Adam was created as a perfect being with free will, his disobedience brought sin into the world. We are all descendants of Adam and Eve born into imperfection with a sin nature that must be brought under submission to God.

 That old Lie Whisperer (Satan) has been allowed to roam over this fallen world for a time leaving in his wake a field of broken lives, as seen in 1 Peter 5:8.  Be self-controlled and alert.  Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.  Over the years many have posed questions such as; if God is such a loving God why does He allow this to happen?  Or, why do people suffer so much here on earth?  At times it seems evil runs rampant, unchecked while even the just people suffer. 

I cannot profess to know the total and complete answer to this, all I know is what God has provided in His Holy Word.  Jesus also tells us in Matthew 5:45b that, He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.  So while here on Earth nobody is exempt from the effects of Adam’s fall that brought sin into the world as seen in Romans 5:12.  Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.  If that was the end of the story we would be in a very bad way, however, we know it’s not the end! 

Jesus came, died, and rose again to conquer death and give us victory over the sin that we inherited from Adam. And yes, while we are still living in this fallen world and are subject to its affects we have an advocate to help us through those times of sickness and loss.  He knows our pain and when we cry out to Him He will give us a peace that passes all understanding as we hold to His promise that one day we will suffer no more!  What a glorious day that will be when we stand before Jesus who will be in our midst.  The Lamb will become our Shepherd and lead us to the fountains of living waters.  Then our heavenly Father will wipe away every tear from our eyes.  So if you have received Jesus as your Lord and Savior you can rest in the promise that one day you will suffer no more!

 

 

            Dale LaFrance                (please look up Galatians 5:16-26)

Laded With Burden

As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them. “Go to the village ahead of  you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her.  Untie them and bring them to me.  If anyone says anything to you, tell him that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.”  This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet: “Say to the Daughter of Zion, “See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”  The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them.  They brought the donkey and the colt, placed their cloaks on them, and Jesus sat on them. (Matthew 21:1-7)

As Jesus entered Jerusalem riding on the back of a donkeys foal not only was prophecy being fulfilled (Zechariah 9:9), it was very symbolic as well.  In ancient days the donkey was a traditional mount for kings and rulers; Jesus was making an implicit claim to be the king of His people.  Because this was happening near the time of the Passover celebration, it invoked a central image of Messianic expectation which is linked to key verses in the Old Testament along with the one previously mentioned (Genesis 49:10 and Isaiah 62:11),

In Jewish literature and teaching we find that the image of a king riding a donkey into Jerusalem to be consistently understood as to signify the arrival of the Messianic King.  Thus, Jesus was claiming to be the Messiah and proclaiming that the age of restoration was beginning through His own person.

I would like to draw your attention to the donkey.  There are frequent Old Testament associations of horses with war and pride; the donkey may have presented an image of peaceful humility.  I believe Jesus was making a statement regarding the nature of His kingship as He rode in on a foal of a donkey.  Donkeys are commonly known as beasts of burden.  Interestingly, the very first burden this foal carried would be the One who would carry the burden of the world: our sin and much more.  There is one other small fact about the donkey and it’s markings.  When I googled which breed had the markings of a cross on it’s back, the answer came back—they all do.  Some may be more prominent then others, but generally a darker patch of hair runs along the spine and one runs horizontally along the donkey’s withers.

Are you tired and laden down with the burden of your sins?  Maybe you have an overwhelming burden of worry and or fear. If so, I have good news for you!  In Psalm 55:22 we are instructed to; Cast your burden on the Lord, and He shall sustain you: He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.  And in Matthew 11:28-30 Jesus gives us this promise.  “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

 

 

            Dale LaFrance                (please look up Zechariah 9:9-10)