We pointed out in the last issue, that part of the Abrahamic inheritance was the land of Canaan, which God promised to him. The closest any generation came to possessing everything that God told Abraham was under the reign of Solomon. Solomon is really a type of the millennial reign of the Lord Jesus Christ. The reign of David is a type of the time we are in today. It was prophesied, in the book of Acts, that during the time of the Church Age, the tabernacle of David would be restored. The spiritual restoration is happening today, and we are a part of it. David is much a type of what we have today; he was unique in his dispensation. The anointing that came to rest on prophets, priests, or kings of the Old Testament was on them temporarily, as God saw fit. Samson was strong, but not 24 hours a day; he was only strong when the Spirit of God came on him. Elisha could only outrun Ahab's chariot when the Spirit of God came on him. But when the Spirit of God came on David, it never left. He is a type of us. We have something unique over everyone in the Old Testament: when the Holy Spirit comes on us, He comes to abide. Jesus said that when the Holy Spirit comes, He will abide with you forever! He did not say for a week or momentarily or from time to time. He said forever! Again, David was a type of us today. Following the church age will be the time of the Millennium, which is the next dispensation to come upon this earth. A type of the Millennial Age is seen in the reign of Solomon. His was a reign of peace; almost all of the borders that the Lord had promised were occupied by Israel at this time. However, that promise will not be totally fulfilled until Jesus fulfills that promise during His Millennial reign. It is during the Millennial reign of Jesus that the nation of Israel will possess all of their borders as was promised by God. Not only the national Jews will be given the land promised, but we too, will inherit it. The Abrahamic Covenant was given to a natural born-again race and to a spiritual race, which encompassed all of the nations of the earth. God said that through Abraham 's seed all nations of the earth would be blessed.

Let us review quickly, some verses we covered in our last issue. Hebrews, chapter 11, beginning in verse 8 says, “By faith Abraham when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed;and he went out, not knowing whither he went”. This verse established the fact that Abraham was called. In Genesis, chapter 12, verses 1 through 3, he received his call to leave Ur of the Chaldees. When he was in Ur, he was not a Jew; he was a Gentile. Remember, the Jewish race did not begin by natural birth; it began by faith. Abraham was a Gentile who became a Jew through faith - not through circumcision - through faith. Abraham believed in God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Some 25 years later, God gave him the command to be circumcised as an outward sign of what had already happened in his heart. Again, circumcision, much like water baptism today, is an outward sign to the world of what has happened in your heart. We also pointed out that Abraham's son, Isaac, was a Jew, while his other son, Ishmael, was a Gentile. However, Ishmael was not a Gentile because he was born out of wedlock, he wasa Gentile because he did not trustin God. He was not a person of faith. In the next generation, Rebecca had twin sons-Jacob and Esau. Both Jacob and Esau were born through a Jewish father, yet one became a Gentile and one became a Jew. The reason for this is because one was of faith and one was not. In the next generation, we have all twelve sons of Jacob. All twelve of them were Jews, forming the twelve tribes of Israel. Some were born in wedlock and some were not, yet, all of them were accepted. Why? Because of faith. Faith is the key and that is what caused the Jewish nation to be founded. It was founded on regeneration, not natural generation. Abraham was the father of a supernatural race that began in this earth through faith. Remember that when God called Abraham, He instructed Abraham to leave his family behind, with the exception of his wife. Abraham was in partial obedience to God. He left, but he took his father and his nephew, Lot with him. Abraham trusted God a little bit, but he always tried to hang on to natural things around him. He only partially obeyed and it slowed down the plan of God. God's plan was fulfilled in his life, but it took many more years than what God had originally intended for it to take.

Verse 9 continues, “By faith he sojourned in the land of promise...”. “Sojourned” means “to act as a temporary resident”. Abraham sojourned in the land living in tents; even though God had prospered him beyond his wildest imaginations, he did not live in a permanent home. Abraham lived in a tent as an outward evidence to the world that he was merely a temporary resident in this earth. Isaac and Jacob also lived in tents as an outward display to the world even though they had wealth in this earth. They were still looking for a home, another home; and that was the City of God, whose builder and maker is God Himself. It also brings back the importance of the fact that no matter how much God prospers us in this earth, were really do not own it-we are only borrowing it for a while. No matter how good this earth is, it is only a stepping stone. We are temporary residents here. We are in the world but not of the world. We are of our heavenly home where Jesus Christ is. That is why we are to set our affections on things above, not on things of the earth.

Verse 9 says again, “By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, (Canaan), as in a strange country (or “as in a foreign land”), dwelling in tabernacles (tents) with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: For he looked for a city...” Can that city be seen with a natural eye? No! But Abraham looked for it. He could not be looking for it with his naturaleye because the naturaleye only sees natural things. He was looking for a spiritual city through the eyes of faith. The eyes of faith become sharper and clearer as more of God's Word is fed to the inward man and therefore, we become more perceptive of the things of God. Verse 10 continues, “For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God”. In this life we can put down our foundations, whether they be financial, intellectual, physical, whatever, but they can be shaken loose. God's foundations will not be shaken,and even though you cannot see those foundations with the natural eye, they are actually more real than the foundations that we have here on earth! Tents have no foundations,just pegs that hold them down which can be pulled out and moved to show the temporariness of this life. You see, tents are also a type of your natural body: one of these days we are going to move out of this body, and we are either going to go to Heaven in spirit form or else we are going to go in a new resurrected body.

Verse 11 of Hebrews, chapter 11 says, “Through faith also Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised”. We pointed out that Abraham was quick to believe God, even though it was with reservations -even though he was still trying to hang on to some natural things around him. Sarah, on the other hand, did not believe God; she rebelled against the promise. In fact, her name, Sarai means “contentious”. She was contentious against Abraham and she was contentious against God. We pointed out in our last issue that her womb was closed because her soul was closed against the promises of God. Abraham was open to the promises of God, therefore, his body was restored before Sarah's body was restored. That is why Abraham could have a child through Hagar; his body was already restored. Sarah could not conceive a child because she refused to believe the promise of God. It was only after Hagar had Ishmael that Sarai finally became Sarah. It was only then that she began to come before the Lord and believe His promises. The reason Abraham is mentioned before Sarah in these verses is because he believed God's promise before Sarah did. Even though Abraham believed God's promises, he believed with some reservations in the beginning. However, his confidence and faith in God's Word grew until he eventually offered Isaac up on the alter. By this time, Abraham had rid himself of all reservations and totally cast himself off on the promises of God.

Verse 11 says, again, “Through faith also Sarah herself received strength (power), to conceive seed,and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised. Therefore sprang there even of one,and him as good as dead”. In other words, Abraham was as capable of producing a child as a dead man was; this is how hopeless it was for Abraham to have a child. Verse12 continues, “Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable”. Notice, Abraham's seed is compared to two things: the stars of heaven and the sand of the sea. The stars of heaven refer to his spiritual race, and the sand of the sea refer to his natural race, which would come from his loins. I want to review some verses of scripture from the book of Romans, which reveal the key to the faith of Abraham .

Romans, chapter 4, beginning in verse 17, “(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,)”. “I have” is past tense! When God told Abraham “I have made you a father of many nations”, it was already done as far as God was concerned. Abraham was to believe what God said was already done. Whatever you are believing God for, He has already accomplished. You cannot talk God into doing it. He talked Himself into doing it before the foundation of the world. He merely asks that you trust Him. That is what Sarah finally had to do, and it is what Abraham had to do as well. You may ask, “Aren't I supposed to labor?” Yes, you are to labor, but you are to labor to enter into rest. You should be laboring to trust God. You should be laboring to get rid of those things that you are trying to do to help God. Do not labor to help God; labor to get rid of those things that prevent you from simply trusting God.

Verse 17 says again, “...I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were”. “Quickening the dead” is what actually happened with Abraham. Although he was not physically dead, he was sexually dead -his reproductive organs were dead. He could not produce a child in the natural, but God called those things which be not as though they were. God said to Abraham, “You already have a child. I have seen it. I have already made you the father of many nations”. Not only did God see Abraham as the father of Isaac, He also called him the father of many nations. In other words, God saw these nations coming from Abraham.

Verse 18 continues, “Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations; according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be”. Verses 17 through 21 of Romans, chapter 4 are a progression. In verse 17 we have the promise of God. In verse 18, we have the fight that went on within Abraham. It is when you believe God that the fight begins in your mind. All of us know that we can read a promise of God, rejoice, and five minutes later find that our mind is giving us all kinds of reasons why it will not work. That is probably why Abraham brought his father and nephew, Lot, along with him. When God initially spoke to Abraham and said, “Go”, Abraham probably said, “Sure!” God had just spoken and it was all so real to him. But five minutes later, as he was walking toward Sarai, he probably began to think, “Well, I love my Dad. He might get upset if I don't take him with me. And what about Lot? The kid is immature. He needs me around. He has always needed me around”. Verse 18 gets into the fight that went on within Abraham. It says again, “Who against hope believed in hope”. “Hope” in this verse is of the mind -of the soul. Faith is of the spirit, but hope is of the mind. Abraham had a fight going on in his mind, but he went ahead and hoped in God. Verses18-21 say, “Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations; according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be. And being not weak in faith, he considered his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah's womb: He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was (became) strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform ”.

Abraham was not fully persuaded in the beginning, but he became fully persuaded. Verse 20 says that Abraham became strong in faith. Strong faith is a process. Abraham's faith grew until God's whole plan finally downed on him. Up until that point, he had wrestled with the plan of God. He knew what God said, but he was constantly trying to help God. You see, sometimes we get too lost in our own sufficiency and talents that when God comes along and says, “Trust me” we tend to put all of our strength toward helping God. My friend, the best thing you can do with your talents is let them die. Let God resurrect them. You have got to get to the point that you say, “God, I don't care about my own talents and sufficiencies anymore. I just want to follow you”. That is when God will pick up those talents that you have placed before Him and say, “Now, you can use them because I will be with you in them. It is no longer your sufficiency--I'll work with you; you’ll work with me”.

Bob Yandian

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