Friday, June 29, 2018

(06/29/2018) A Second Sacred Pair


A depiction of Abraham, Sarah and Isaac



Today, reply is on the divine use of Abraham and Sarah as a sacred pair sharing a single personhood in relationship with the Creator through divine appointment and marriage.  Marriage as a sacred tool is intended to produce “godly seed” (see Malachi 2).  As with Noah and Moses among the Patriarchs, and Jesus Christ who has provided the new creation, his church, Abraham is spoken of among Christian believers as a “second Adam.”  Developing believers are, first, to acknowledge, and then understand, that authority, dominion and power over existence, duration, and everlasting life are with the Lord our GOD.  The many occasions and sacred events (we say, miracles) where divinity has operated according to divine laws, rather than natural laws to bring about human reproduction, birth, and new life include the birth of Samson, a Judge of Israel; the birth of Samuel, who is called the last of the Judges/the first of the prophets; the birth of John the Baptist, the son of a Levitical priest who was born full of the Holy Ghost; the birth of Jesus Christ as the Son of Man; and the birth of every repenting sinner who is “born again” through water baptism.  A fighter in the “Yahoo! Answers” Religion and Spirituality forum using the ID “Love Unites” (Level 7 with 57,636 points, a member since May 08, 2013) posted the following:


Why did God condone Abraham's marriage to his half sister?


THE GOLDEN ARROW:  Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.  Cometh this blessedness then upon the circumcision only, or upon the uncircumcision also? for we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness.  How was it then reckoned? when he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision.  And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised:  that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also:  And the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet uncircumcised.  For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.  For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect:  Because the law worketh wrath:  for where no law is, there is no transgression.  Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all,  (As it is written, 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.  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.  (Romans 4:  8-18, King James Version, KJV)


THE DOUBLE DAGGER:  Abraham Demonstrates Spiritual Growth (05/30/2018); Christianity Is A Relationship (04/05/2018); The Heir To Abraham (10/23/2016); An Eternal Inheritance? (06/26/2016); Ye Are Abraham’s Seed (07/10/2015); Blessing and Inheritance from Abraham? (06/05/2014); On Christians Executing Judgment (06/06/2014); Circumcision and Promise? (07/16/2013); The Bible and Stupid People (07/17/2013)


“Love Unites”, Abraham found grace in the eyes of the Lord.  Adam (the first male and female) were held to be one and a sacred pair before GOD by virtue of their creation.  Abraham and Sarah are to be accounted as one on the basis of their both having been chosen to fulfill eternal purposes that expressed divine prerogative and sovereign will; on the basis of their spiritual joining through marriage; and on the basis of their having received endowments of spirit content from the Creator that allow displaying oneness without sameness.  For Adam and Abraham, marriage was not a man-made or social institution structured by law regarding family and maintained for human survival so much as it continued to be a tool of divine fullness (we say, the Godhead; the Trinity; the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit) for making actual the multiple possibilities of sacred law, divine incarnation, inheritance, judgment, eternal life, and the necessary revelation of GOD to his own created beings and living creatures.  Abraham’s experience of divinity incorporated both prophetic visions and divine visitation.   Abraham was called by GOD to live as a nomad on the earth; and the Patriarch eventually commanded a household that may have numbered thousands, for it included the families of his male servants who also served as an army of more than three hundred.  Everywhere he traveled he dug life-giving wells for water; built altars for sacrifice; continued circumcision and covenant relationship; practiced intercession, praise, and prayer; and demonstrated worship of the true GOD.  Together with Sarah, Abraham was to accomplish a sacred event (miracle), the birth of a firstborn to a barren woman pass the age of fertility.  The birth of Isaac was to be a platform for the birth of Jesus Christ as Messiah.  Consider again the following that uses language from the Bible:

(1.)  Genesis 18:  1-5, King James Version (KJV):  1 And the LORD appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre:  and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day;  2 And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him:  and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground,  3 And said, My Lord, if now I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant:  4 Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree:  5 And I will fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort ye your hearts; after that ye shall pass on:  for therefore are ye come to your servant. And they said, So do, as thou hast said.

(2.)  Genesis 18:  23-28, KJV:  23 And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?  24 Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city:  wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein?  25 That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked:  and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee:  Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?  26 And the Lord said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.  27 And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes:  28 Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous:  wilt thou destroy all the city for lack of five? And he said, If I find there forty and five, I will not destroy it.

(3.)  Genesis 18:  9-14, KJV:  9 And they said unto him, Where is Sarah thy wife? And he said, Behold, in the tent.  10 And he said, I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind him.  11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age; and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women.  12 Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?  13 And the LORD said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, which am old?  14 Is any thing too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.

There is far more that should be said, correctly examined, and spiritually apprehended.  (For example, (4.)  Genesis 18:  17-22, KJV:  17 And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do;  18 Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?  19 For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.  20 And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous;  21 I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know.  22 And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom:  but Abraham stood yet before the LORD.)  Even so, I trust this fragment will be useful.  Be it unto you according to your faith.

THE BLACK PHOENIX
Washington, DC

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