Peter Steffens
Peter started by telling the Ebenezer team that the Old and New Testaments belong together. The Old Testament speaks about the Lord Jesus, including the sacrifices. It connects with the New Testament. This is a summary of what Peter said:
The story of Isaac
Genesis 21: 2 “…..at a set time….” In Hebrew its Moed meaning time set by God. God has a plan and His time is specific. The Greek word kairos means appointed time of God, fullness of God, planned by God.
There are many parallels between Isaac and Jesus. In Hebrew, Isaac means “He will love” and it has to do with joy, gladness and laughter.
V33, Abraham lived in Beersheba and called on the name of the Lord. “Ger” means living as a stranger. The Bible tells us we belong somewhere else. We are sons of the Lord Jesus. We have Hid DNA and we are His ambassadors.
Genesis 22:2 First time “testing” is mentioned. Take Isaac and go and sacrifice him….
The Hebrew word Nisa or Nisi means banner. Banner is God’s name. Jesus is making a connection about Himself. Nisa is to “test” in Hebrew and this is relating to the Cross. In difficult circumstances, ask Jesus to show me the Cross.
When the Israelites came out of Egypt, they went into the desert. In Hebrew, desert is MDBR. If you remove the “M” and are left with “DBR”, it means WORD. In Greek, “lagos” means WORD. God revealed His WORD in the desert. Revelation and exile come from the same root. In difficult circumstances, God speaks. He creates light out of darkness. When things are tough and difficult, it gives God an opportunity to do a miracle. God is able to do miracles at Ebenezer. He chooses things people won’t choose.
The Bible shows the model/prophetic line about Isaac. He went to the region of Moriah – Mount Moriah. The Bible explains itself…. Mount Moriah is the same as Mount Zion – the mountain of the Lord.
Sacrifices were done as burnt offerings. The Hebrew word for burnt offering is “olah”. The “holocaust” which the Jews experienced means to burn something totally. Leviticus 18:21, Jeremiah 7:31, Jeremiah 19:4 – 5 and Jeremiah 32:35. It never entered the heart and mind of God to sacrifice a child. The Hebrew word heart also means mind. We think of Isaac as a little boy who was going to be sacrificed but he wasn’t. Sarah was 90 when Isaac was born and she died aged 127. That means that Isaac was 37 years – an adult – when he was going to be sacrificed. Isaac went with his father by free choice.
The story of Abraham is talking about Jesus who is the “olah”. Jesus is the lamb that Abraham is speaking about. The first five books of the Bible – the Pentateuch is prophetic. They tell us about Jesus.
God called Abraham his friend. They had a strong relationship. Abraham even bargained with God and he was able to do this because of their relationship. When sin came into the world, it broke God’s heart because of our relationship with him. Lamentations reveals the pain in God’s heart. We impact people through relationship.
We can use the story of Isaac to teach the principles of God and see how precise the plan of God is.
Summarised by Molly Manhanga
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