Paul’s Theology of Righteousness – Part 7

Review

• Isaiah 42 is a prophetic picture of the work of Christ.
  • ⁷ To open blind eyes, To bring out prisoners from the prison, Those who sit in darkness from the prison house. Isaiah 42:7 NKJV
    • The only way Satan can blind you and keep you in darkness is to deceive you.
• ⁶ For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. Romans 5:6 NKJV
  • There was nothing we could do on our own to escape from the darkness.
• ⁸ He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. 1 John 3:8 NKJV
  • There was a purpose for Jesus coming.
  • Destroy: to loosen (implies to release)
• Redemption was God’s way of making mankind righteous and releasing man from the works of the devil.
  • Redemption: to rescue and deliver from the bondage of sin and the penalties of God’s violated law (poverty, sickness, spiritual death)
• The seven redemptive names of God – God has given us the redemptive right to expect these in the name of Jesus.
  • Jehova: He is that He is.
    • Jehovah Jireh – the Lord will provide
    • Jehovah Shammah – the Lord is there (present)
    • Jehovah Ropha – the Lord Who heals you
    • Jehovah Tsidkenu – the Lord our Righteousness
    • Jehovah Nissi – the Lord our banner (victory)
    • Jehovah Shalom – the Lord our peace
    • Jehovah Raa – the Lord our shepherd

The Lord Will Provide

¹ Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” ² Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” ³ So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. ⁴ Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off. ⁵ And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.” ⁶ So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went together. ⁷ But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” Then he said, “Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” ⁸ And Abraham said, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.” So the two of them went together. ⁹ Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. ¹⁰ And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. ¹¹ But the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” So he said, “Here I am.” ¹² And He said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” ¹³ Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. ¹⁴ And Abraham called the name of the place, The-Lord-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, “In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided.” ¹⁵ Then the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, ¹⁶ and said: “By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son— ¹⁷ blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. ¹⁸ In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” ¹⁹ So Abraham returned to his young men, and they rose and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba. Genesis 22:1-19 NKJV

• ¹ Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” Genesis 22:1 NKJV
  • Test: to prove
    • A test isn’t God testing you to see if you measure up, it’s initiation to prove that you can do it and God proving himself faithful.
• ⁸ And Abraham said, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.” So the two of them went together. Genesis 22:8 NKJV
• ¹⁹ concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense. Hebrews 11:19 NKJV
  • Abraham believed God would provide a substitute, or resurrect him to be his firstborn.
• ¹¹ But the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” So he said, “Here I am.” ¹² And He said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” Genesis 22:11-12 NKJV
  • God provided a substitute
• ¹⁴ And Abraham called the name of the place, The-Lord-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, “In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided.” Genesis 22:14 NKJV
• Abraham offered the ram, named the mountain “the Lord will provide,” and says “on this mountain the sacrifice will be seen.”
  • This is a picture of Jesus.

• What did Abraham believe?
  • 1. First of all, he believed in a supernatural birth. He believed that God would supernaturally bring a son into the world. God did, and Abraham called him Issac.
  • 2. He believed for “three days” that his son was as good as dead.
  • 3. He believed God would provide a substitute sacrifice or raise his son from the dead. (The ram caught by his horns (authority) in the thicket; a thicket is thorns. The crown of thorns on Jesus’ head signifies He stated He was King of the Jews.)
  • 4. He believed, on that very mountain (Mount Moriah is the temple mount in Jesus’ trial), God would provide himself a substitute. Literally, in the Hebrew: “on this mountain they will see it.”

⁸ But God shows and clearly proves His [own] love for us by the fact that while we were still sinners, Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One) died for us. ⁹ Therefore, since we are now justified (acquitted, made righteous, and brought into right relationship with God) by Christ’s blood, how much more [certain is it that] we shall be saved by Him from the indignation and wrath of God. ¹⁰ For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, it is much more [certain], now that we are reconciled, that we shall be saved (daily delivered from sin’s dominion) through His [resurrection] life. Romans 5:8-10 AMPC