Messianic Perspectives

Liz Aiello: Jesus said if we know the truth, the truth will make us free. On this edition of Messianic Perspectives, Dr. Gary Hedrick shows us one truth in particular that enables us to walk in real freedom. Stay with us as we discuss the Christian's greatest discovery right here on Messianic Perspectives.

Shalom and welcome to Messianic Perspectives, a daily program where we look into the scriptures from a distinctive first-century Jewish point of view. This is Liz Aiello. Today Dr. Gary Hedrick is discussing the Christian's greatest discovery. I'll be back at the close of the program with news about a special offer. And now, here's Gary.

Dr. Gary Hedrick: Thank you, and we welcome you, listening friend. It's good to have us with you today as we continue our series of studies from the life of Abraham, which we've entitled "The Christian's Greatest Discovery." And of course, what we're talking about is the assurance of salvation. So we've gone back to the life of Abraham, the father of the Jews, and we've seen that Abraham came to a point in his life where he needed assurance.

You see, God had promised Abraham a son. Not only that, but he promised that through this son, God would raise up a great nation. And as Abraham stands there under the night sky in Genesis 15:5, the Lord says, "Look now toward heaven and tell the stars if thou be able to number them." And he said unto him, "So shall thy seed be." Verse six: "And Abraham believed in the Lord and he counted it to him for righteousness."

So God had made Abraham a promise. But God had purposely delayed the fulfillment of that promise until both Abraham and Sarah were well beyond the normal childbearing years. You see, God delayed the fulfillment of the promise deliberately until it was virtually a biological impossibility for Sarah to have a child because God wanted everyone to know that the birth of this little boy was a supernatural miracle.

He wanted everyone to know that the fulfillment of his promise to Abraham transcended any possible explanation in the natural realm. You see, our extremity is God's opportunity. Sometimes God waits until we're caught between the devil and the deep blue sea, with nowhere to go and no one to turn to, before he parts the Red Sea. So here in Genesis 15, God knows what he's doing.

Part of God's plan was that the fulfillment of the promise would be delayed so there would be no doubt about the fact that Isaac would be a miracle child. So God knew what he was doing, but the problem was that Abraham didn't know what God was doing. Abraham was beginning to wonder what was going on. Has anything ever happened in your life to make you wonder if God knew what he was doing?

If you have been in a situation like that, then you know how Abraham felt at this point in his life. He says, "Lord, how can I know you're going to keep your promise?" He says, "Lord God, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?" And on the last program, we saw that God responded to Abraham's need for assurance in a very unusual way.

The Lord told Abraham to take a heifer, a ram, a goat, a turtledove, and a pigeon, all of which were sacrificial animals used in the Levitical system in the Old Testament. Then the Lord told him to take those animals, cut them in two, and arrange the pieces in two rows with a pathway in between. And then he said, "Abraham, after you've done that, I want you completely out of the way. So I'm going to put you to sleep so you're totally unable to do anything."

And then, while Abraham sleeps, there's this strange ritual in Genesis 15 in which the Bible says a smoking furnace and a burning lamp passed between those pieces. Now, two things are pictured here. First, the helpless sinner, and secondly, a saving God. Here we have Abraham being put to sleep. It says in verse 12, "And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him."

So he's not only put to sleep, but this horror of great darkness fell upon Abraham. And in the same way, people who don't know Christ are not only powerless to save themselves, but they also face the horrible prospect of a coming judgment. And you see, this whole scene is a picture of Calvary. It is a scene of sacrifice pointing to the death of Christ on the cross.

In response to Abraham's need for assurance, the Lord says, "Look to Calvary. Look at the cross." You see, the blood of those animals spoke of the blood of Jesus Christ shed on the cross for our sins. And when you study this passage carefully, you find that this is the most profound answer God could have given Abraham. Notice, for example, that God told Abraham to take five animals.

All five of them were sacrificial animals. They were types of the Lord Jesus Christ: the heifer, the she-goat, the ram, the pigeon, the turtledove, all speak of his sacrifice for us. And notice that there were five of them. And in the scriptures, the number five has a very special significance. It's the number of grace. Have you ever studied biblical numerology? If you haven't, you should because numbers in the Bible have a very special significance.

One is the number of unity, two is the number of agreement, three is the number of Trinity, four is the number of the earth—there's north, south, east, and west, and four seasons and so on—and five is the number of grace. In the Old Testament tabernacle, for example, the brazen altar measured five cubits in each direction, symbolizing the fact that this sacrificial altar represented the grace of God, that God in his mercy and in his grace had provided a means by which sinful man could be justified by the shedding of blood.

So five is the number of grace. And there are other examples like, for example, Benjamin, who received five times as much as his brother and five changes of raiment, representing the grace shown to him by his brother Joseph there in the book of Genesis. And David, for another example, picked up five stones when he went against Goliath. And in the New Testament, Jesus used five loaves to feed the multitude.

And it's consistent, you see, that when you go through scripture, this pattern emerges where the number five is associated with instances of grace, instances where God helps people when they can't help themselves, which is really what grace is. And so I think it's clear that the fact that God instructs Abraham here in Genesis 15 to take these five sacrificial animals speaks of God's grace.

So Abraham assumes the role of a priest here. He takes the animals, he sacrifices them, he cuts them in half and arranges the halves in two rows. Then God puts Abraham to sleep and lays him off to one side so he's completely out of the picture. And that's important because Abraham had no part in this covenant of grace. He had no part in the ceremony whatsoever.

And what a wonderful picture of salvation that is because salvation is God's work, not ours. God does it all. Salvation by grace through faith, not of works lest anyone should boast. God does it all. It's by grace through faith, plus nothing, minus nothing. Listen, all I can do and all you can do is receive the free gift from God.

And by the way, maybe this is all new to you. You may be a Jewish person and you just tuned in to find out what this is all about. Or you may be a Gentile and you've never heard anything like this before. But the good news of the gospel is that salvation is a free gift. Not free because it didn't cost anything, but free to you because the price has already been paid. Write to me, won't you? And I'll be delighted to send you more information free of charge about what the gospel of grace really means.

So after Abraham is fast asleep here and he's out of the way, a smoking furnace and a burning lamp passed between those pieces. Now, before we discuss the smoke and the lamp, we need to understand the significance of this unusual arrangement. Here we've got these animals that were cut in half and arranged in two rows with a pathway down through the middle. What does that mean?

Well, it goes back to an ancient custom. When agreements were made between two parties and contracts were confirmed, they would seal a covenant like that in any one of several different ways. We've all seen the old Westerns on TV where the cowboys will make a treaty with the Indians and they'll sit in the tepee and smoke a peace pipe to seal the agreement. Well, it's the same idea except in the ancient Middle East instead of a peace pipe, they did it differently.

Sometimes they ate salt together, and this was called the covenant of salt. Sometimes it was by the clasping of hands. In fact, that's where the handshake came from. And it wasn't too many years ago even in this country that you could shake on a deal and that was all the security you needed. When my grandpa was farming back in the 1940s and the 1950s in Southern California, I don't think he knew what a written contract was. He'd cut deals involving thousands of dollars, and all they had to do was shake on it.

Of course, those days are gone. But in ancient times, the most binding covenant of all was the covenant of blood. When an agreement was made, the two parties would sacrifice an animal—and it was usually a calf—and cut it in two. Then the two parties to the agreement would step between those two halves of the dead animal. They would join hands and confirm the covenant by repeating their agreement something like this: they would say, "Let it be done to the one who breaks this covenant as it was done to this animal." And they both knew what that meant. It meant death to the one who broke the covenant.

Well, we're not done with this yet, but we'll continue on the next program since we're out of time for today.

Liz Aiello: Thank you Gary, and thank you listening friend for tuning in today. Now, let me tell you about our special offer. It's the compact disc which includes all of the programs in this current series of studies on the Christian's greatest discovery. Of course, the discovery we're talking about is the truth of the believer's security. When we understand that salvation depends on Christ and his merits rather than on ourselves and our merits, then we've taken the first step toward walking in true freedom.

It's unfortunate that so many of us don't fully appreciate our security in Christ. We get bogged down in our spiritual lives because we never know from one minute to the next how we stand with God. That's why this teaching is so important. We need to know that our standing before God doesn't fluctuate depending on how well we perform. All of our sins—past, present, and future—have been forgiven through the shed blood of the Messiah. His righteousness has been imputed to us.

So we can know that we're saved, and that's what this series is all about. The title once again is "The Christian's Greatest Discovery" and it's yours for a gift of just $6 or more to Messianic Perspectives. Just visit our secure online store at messianicspecialties.com to place your order. If you would prefer to order by mail, just address your request to Messianic Perspectives, P.O. Box 345, San Antonio, Texas, 78292.

To order by phone, use our toll-free order line. The number is 1-800-926-5397. And as always, when you're in touch with us, please mention the call letters of this station. If you're listening to our webcast or podcast, we need to know that too. This is Liz Aiello. Join us next time, won't you? As Dr. Gary Hedrick continues our series on the Christian's greatest discovery right here on Messianic Perspectives.