Custom Search
|
To receive notice of each days Bible Study,
please go to my Twitter and Facebook pages and sign up.
Facebook -
| Daily Bible Study | ||
 You can help people worldwide. Please make a small donation. Make a difference in someone elses life. |
Subscribe Daily Bible Study Mailing List 
Receive Daily Bible Studies directly into your email inbox. |
Express your comments, opinions, questions, etc. |
|
You must be in fellowship prior to your Bible study, so that the spiritual information you receive can become a source, of blessing to your soul and produce spiritual growth. Daily Bible Study
Lesson # Genesis 15:12-16 Study Material - Genesis 15:12-16 You must be in fellowship prior to your Bible study, so that the spiritual information you receive can become a source of blessing to your soul and produce spiritual growth. Gen. 15:12-16 12 Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, terror and great darkness fell upon him. 13 And God said to Abram, 'Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years. 14 But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve; and afterward they will come out with many possessions. 15 And as for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age. 16 Then in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete.' Abram has been waiting all day long for the demonstrated sign which he thinks God will reveal. Here he has set out the offering and divided the portions of the animals into two separate rows. One on either side of the place where he has set them. In the normal course of an offering the parties separate the offering indicating that there is a difference between the two parties. The two parties reconcile their differences and then they walk between the portions thus symbolizing the uniting of the parties and ending their differences. Abram's offering remains incomplete. He has spent his time chasing off the birds which are pestering his offering, and he does this throughout the day. God does not appear. Then night fall comes once again and Abram falls into a deep sleep filled with terror and a great darkness. Thus is the life of a person when separated from God. Only believers can have a relationship with God, and therefore fellowship is a function of the spiritual life. Unbelievers are not included in these proceedings. They, as unbelievers, live in total darkness. But Abram is a believer in the promised savior, Jesus Christ. Here we will get a picture of life outside of the will of God, of life outside of fellowship with God, as well as a picture of the prophecy of the future slavery of the Israelites, Abram's descendants in verses 12 and 13. For 400 years they will be oppressed in the land of Egypt, which will commence with the generation following Joseph the son of Jacob and some 215 years in the future from this time of Abram, then continuing for the next four generations (Levi, Kohath, Amram, Moses), following Joseph, to the time of Moses. After which slavery, they will come out of that situation a very wealthy nation, taking with them the spoils of Egypt as they begin their exodus out of Egypt. But first the darkness and the terror. There are only two places one can reside in life with respect to ones relationship with God. You are either in fellowship with God and therefore in residence inside His palace, so to speak, or you are not in fellowship with God, and therefore in residence outside of the palace. I call that outer residence - the jungle. When out of fellowship with God you are outside His sphere of protection and exposed to the risks of the jungle. Try living in a jungle in the darkest part of Africa for a night or two. There it is perpetual night. Creepy crawling things. Things you can hear, but not see. Things you might see, but cannot hear. In the jungle you have no defense, no arms, nothing with which to protect yourself. You are at the mercy of the jungle, and in the jungle there is no mercy. Wishing for it won't make it real. Thus the terror of the extreme darkness. When out of fellowship you have no defense in this world. Crime can overtake you. Economics or the lack of it can overtake you. Medical or health problems can overtake you. World events can swamp you. In the jungle you are but a statistic, and no one cares. You are in fact alone. Were it not for God, you would have no hope of survival or deliverance. So the descendants of Abram will inherit the land but not before going through a period of oppression. Abram is given a promise, a promise that he and his descendants will inherit the land from the Nile to the Euphrates river. A huge chunk of real estate. But some time will pass before this occurs. Actually this prophecy will not be fulfilled until the second advent of Jesus Christ. But for now, Abram will not be a part of this failing generation which will go into Egypt. That generation will be four generations away - Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and Ephraim. By the same token this applies to each one of us. In fellowship we are in resident in Gods palace and home as it were. But outside of that palace we are in a strange place, the jungle, and not home. Alive in this world we are merely here temporarily, our real home being in heaven, a place where we will ascend to at the rapture. So we have several parallel principles to learn from this passage. The Israelites will be negative toward God. Negative people are out of fellowship. They will find themselves in Egypt, rather than in the promised land. In carnality and under the rule of the sin nature (slaves as it were), rather than in fellowship. Residents of this world rather than residents of heaven. This will continue until they change their minds. It will continue until the evil peoples time on this world is completed. Here called the Amorite which is a general reference to the inhabitants of the land. They will continue in their downward spiral of degeneracy until it is time for God to remove them totally. At the rapture we will be removed from this world when our number is complete. The degeneracy of those who remain behind will continue until it is complete, at which time Jesus Christ will return to utterly destroy them at the second advent. But believers in fellowship, believers advancing to maturity will live to a full age and go to rest at the point of their physical death, and they will enjoy that 'passing over' in peace. The world will be left behind to continue it swirling and aimless wandering in history, having not a clue as to where it is going. As mature believers will continue to live throughout history, in every generation, and not be a part of the disasters that fall on others that reject Bible doctrine. God will judge the oppressors of this world. God will protect the mature believers of the world. 
Now is the time to post a prayer. End Of Lesson Study to show thyself approved (mature) unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing (studying/discerning), the Word of truth. |
|
Subscribe Daily Bible Study Mailing List 
Receive Daily Bible Studies directly into your inbox. |
|
|
|
|