Thru the Bible

Steve Schwetz: Welcome to Through the Bible with Dr. J. Vernon McGee. We got a terrific study ahead as we continue in the Old Testament book of Genesis. And this one happens to be a personal favorite of mine. Why, you might ask? Well, I'm glad you asked, because we catch a clear glimpse of Jesus. Yes, Jesus in Genesis. So hop aboard the Bible bus, we're headed to Genesis chapter 22.

And while you find your place in God's word, let's take a moment to hear from a few of our fellow travelers. Here's a letter, this is from Shyla, who watches our Kannada program on satellite TV in India.

Steve Schwetz: "I served as a nurse in a hospital for many years. My two daughters are now married and settled abroad. After I retired, my husband and I fulfilled our dream of building our own house. However, shortly after we moved in, he passed away. Living alone in that house was incredibly difficult. I felt a crushing sense of loneliness that eventually turned into depression.

Steve Schwetz: I would spend my days crying by myself. Sometimes I felt so lost that I would get into an auto rickshaw without any destination in mind. I would just go to a random park and sit on a bench and cry alone for hours. I lived in this darkness for two years. One day, a gentleman told me about the program. I decided to start watching, and it changed everything.

Steve Schwetz: The heavy burden of grief lifted, and my mind and heart were filled with deep, lasting peace. Today, I am no longer a lonely woman crying in parks. I am active and full of joy. I have even become involved in the ministry, serving and volunteering in any way I can."

Well, don't you just love that? Here's another note. This is from one from Tatyana, who lives in Russia.

Steve Schwetz: "Your program has not only helped me understand God, but to understand myself as well. It's like you bring the heavenly truths down to earth, so I can understand. I didn't believe in God, but now I can't get rid of the feeling that I need to come to Him. It's urgent. I know that I need to repent of my sins and live the way you describe."

Well, if you'd like to join our World Prayer Team in praying for listeners like Shyna and Tatyana and for so many others who listen in more than 250 languages around the world, sign up at ttb.org. And letters like this mean so much to us, so don't forget to share your own story. It's easy, you can leave a note in the feedback section of our app. You can also email us at biblebus@ttb.org, or you can always call us at 1-800-65-BIBLE and just leave a voicemail. After all, it is letter month. It's a special time of year here at Through the Bible, where we ask people to pause and really reflect on what God's doing in their lives through our time together in His word. So I hope you'll do that.

Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, thank you for your son, Jesus. As we open your word, Lord, help us to see Him clearly and understand the significance of how you revealed Him to Abraham. We ask this in His precious name. Amen.

Steve Schwetz: Here's Dr. J. Vernon McGee with our study of Genesis 22 on Through the Bible.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now we have come through in the 22nd chapter, the final crisis in the life of Abraham. Actually, you could not ask Abraham to go any farther than he's gone here.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Not only to sacrifice his own son, but to go contrary to all the teachings he'd been given from God. He had been taught that human sacrifice was wrong. And God does condemn it.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: But the important thing is that now God is making it clear that there will have to be a man to stand in the gap. There will have to be a man that will be capable of becoming the Savior of the race if anyone is to be saved.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And so that is a great lesson that's given to us in this. And as we went through the details of Abraham going to the mountain, actually right in the same area where the Lord Jesus Himself was crucified.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And that Abraham said God would provide his self a lamb. And they found a ram and offered him. But God did provide a lamb 1900 years later in Christ. And now we find that God stayed his hand.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And why didn't God let Abraham go through with it? I think it's self-evident. The fact of the matter is it was wrong. And God stopped Abraham. God spared Abraham's son, but God spared not his own son, but gave him up freely for us all.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, we find here in verse 17 and 18, and I'll read them again. "That in blessing, I will bless thee, and in multiplying, I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the seashore. And thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemy. And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed because thou hast obeyed my voice."

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, we have here the fact that God says in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Now, what's he talking about here? What seed? Well, if you go to Galatians 3:16, you will find that Paul interprets what the seed means.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And I'm reading now Galatians 3:16. "Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not and to seeds, that's plural, as of many, but as of one, and to thy seed which is Christ." You have the Bible's own interpretation of this.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, Paul says back in the third chapter of Galatians, the eighth verse, he says, "And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen or the Gentiles through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, in thee shall all nations be blessed."

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: All right, when did God preach the gospel to Abraham? When God called upon him to offer his son Isaac upon the altar, that was the time that God preached the gospel to him, because he says here, in thy seed shall all nations be blessed. Well, that seed is Christ.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And here we read in verse 18, "And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." This is the gospel given to Abraham if you please.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: I would like to make this addition here because it's something that is customarily passed by. We assume that Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all of these Old Testament worthies, they were great men, but they're not as smart as we are.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And they don't know as much as we know. I'm of the opinion that Abraham knew a great deal more about the coming of Christ and the Gospel that you and I give him credit for. In fact, the Lord Jesus said, Abraham saw my day and rejoiced.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: So he must have known a great deal more than we give them credit for. You see, God had revealed a great deal to Abraham. But the Savior is not yet come. He's not coming. We know today for 1900 years. But here on top of Mount Moriah, where Abraham offered Isaac, is a picture of the offering of Christ and even his resurrection. All of it is here.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Because after God called him to do it, it was three days before he even got down there. And God gave him back to Abraham alive on the third day. So that you have the death and resurrection of Christ and Paul says God preached the gospel to Abraham. That's very important for you to nail down.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now we have as we come to verse 19. "So Abraham returned unto his young men, and they rose up and went together to Beersheba. And Abraham dwelt at Beersheba." Now, we find here that we have a little inside into the family of Abraham. I'm not going into detail here, but let's just read verse 20 together.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: "It came to pass after these things, that it was told Abraham, saying, Behold, Milcah, she hath also borne children unto thy brother, Nahor." Now he left him way back yonder in the land of Haran.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And this is just a little sidelight on the family of Abraham. Now, this line will not be followed, but they will cross the line of Abraham a little later, and we'll see that when we get to it. But that is included here. And it's not our purpose to go into this. After all, if you read the rest of this chapter, you have quite an exercise in the pronunciation of names. And it was a worthy subject, but not for our purpose.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now we come to chapter 23. And as we come to chapter 23, why, we see the death of Sarah and Abraham's purchase of a cave in which to bury her. And that's the cave of Machpelah.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, will you notice as we come to chapter 23, we have first of all here the death of Sarah. "And Sarah was a hundred and seven and twenty years old. These were the years of the life of Sarah. And Sarah died in Kirjath Arba, the name is Hebron, in the land of Canaan. And Abraham came to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her."

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, you have here the death of Sarah. And you'll notice her age is given as a hundred and 27 years old. Now she was 90 when Isaac was born. Now, we are told that when Sarah died in Kirjath Arba, it's Hebron. And we'll notice how Abraham even had to buy a cave in which to bury his dead in the very land that God had given him.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, why didn't he take her somewhere else to bury her? Well, because the hope they have is in that land. That is the hope of the future. And I'll move on down and read this because although it's the arrangements for a funeral, and that's not very exciting or very interesting, and it certainly becomes a little morbid to some, but it's very important to see here a great truth.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now I'm reading verse 3. "And Abraham stood up from before his dead, and spake unto the sons of Heth, saying, I am a stranger and a sojourner with you. Give me a possession of a burying place with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight."

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now notice Abraham calls himself a stranger and a sojourner even in the Promised Land that God had promised to give him. And verse 5, "And the children of Heth answered Abraham, saying unto him, Hear us, my Lord, thou art a mighty prince among us. In the choice of our sepulchers, bury thy dead. None of us shall withhold from thee his sepulcher, but that thou mayest bury thy dead."

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, this is a very generous offer of the children of Heth that lived in this land. They said to Abraham, "You just pick your burying spot in any of our sepulchers and that's it. We'd be delighted to have you." You see, Abraham had made a tremendous impression. A mighty prince. This man's influence counted for something.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Verse 7. "And Abraham stood up and bowed himself to the people of the land, even to the children of Heth. And he communed with them, saying, If it be your mind that I should bury my dead out of my sight, hear me and entreat for me to Ephron the son of Zohar, that he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which he hath, which is in the end of his field, for as much money as it is worth, he shall give it me for a possession of a burying place among you."

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now the cave of Machpelah was the place Abraham wanted. But he wanted to buy it. He wanted nothing given to him. In other words, until God gave him that land, he'll buy what he needed and what he wanted. And now he actually buys a burying place.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now again, I ask the question, why didn't he take Sarah somewhere else and bury her? Well, he buried her there because it's the land and the hope of the future is there. Now you are going to find as you go through the Bible, that there are two great hopes and two great purposes God has.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: He has an earthly purpose, and he has a heavenly purpose. Now he has an earthly purpose, that is, with this earth on which you and I live. It's going into eternity. Now it's going to be traded in on a new model. There'll be a new heaven and a new earth. But there's going to be an earth. And it's going to be inhabited throughout eternity.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, that's the promise that God gave to Abraham and those after him. You see this earth on which you and I live, God's not going to put it in the garbage can. It's not going to be put out in one of these lots where you have all these wrecked cars. God's not going to get rid of it. He intends to trade it in on a new model, and the new heavens, the new earth will go into eternity. And there'll be people to inhabit it.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, that was the hope of Abraham. Abraham wanted to be buried in that land so that when the resurrection came, he and Sarah would be raised in that land. And he never knew how many was coming after him, but there are literally going to be millions going to be raised from the dead. And that's their hope. It's an earthly hope, and it'll be realized.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, when our Lord yonder in the upper room said to these disciples who were schooled in the Old Testament, and they had the Old Testament hope when he said to them, "Let not your heart be troubled, you believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many abiding places. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I'll come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there you may be also."

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, that is the New Jerusalem. That is something that he's preparing today. And that's the place where the church is going. That will be the eternal abode of the church. Now, that was brand new to these disciples. And I'm afraid it's brand new to a great many Christians today. God never told Abraham he's going to take him away from this earth to heaven. He kept telling him, "I'm going to give you this land."

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now Abraham believed God. And that's the reason now that he wants to be buried, wants Sarah buried in that land. And it's a place for him to bury his dead. He intends to be buried there, and he is buried there, by the way. Now, that's down at Hebron. We made a trip down there, and over that spot today, they have a mosque. It's a Mohammedan mosque.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Frankly, in that entire land when I was there, I never felt uncomfortable or just a little afraid, except at Hebron. We'd been warned to be very careful in Hebron that there was a great deal of antagonism to the tourists, and a great deal of antagonism to practically everyone. And of course, they let you in the mosque because it meant tourist dollars.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And we went in and looked down through a little hole in the floor, down into the cave, and whether Abraham and Isaac and Jacob are buried there, Abraham and Sarah are supposed to be there. Isaac and Rebekah are supposed to be there. And Jacob is supposed to be there. Rachel is buried on up at Bethlehem.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, these men, all buried in that land. Why? They've got a hope of being raised from the dead in that land. That's their hope someday. They have an earthly hope. Now, our hope is a heavenly hope. And I hope that that is made clear to you today, and you can see the importance of why Abraham's dwelling on this so much here at this particular time.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And now he has this deal to buy the cave. Now, notice the transaction. "And Ephron dwelt among the children of Heth, and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the audience of the children of Heth, even of all that went in at the gate of his city, saying, Nay, my Lord, hear me, the field give I thee, and the cave that is therein, I give it thee. In the presence of the sons of my people, give I it thee, bury thy dead."

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, notice Abraham and the generosity of these people and of this man Ephron in particular. Abraham bowed down himself before the people of the land. They certainly were polite in that day. We get the impression these were cave men that carried clubs and clubbed each other. May I say to you, if Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and the Old Testament saints, in fact, the ones that are mentioned in this chapter, if they were in Los Angeles today, and to go back and report to their folk. I think they'd say, "Do you know that the offspring are a bunch of cave men? They're highly uncivilized, they're rude and they're crude, and they're a disgrace."

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: I think they would say that of us today. But we have the advantage we can talk about them. But the interesting thing is, notice how polite they are. Abraham bowed down himself before the people of the land. Now verse 13. "And he spake unto Ephron in the audience of the people of the land, saying, But if thou wilt give it, I pray thee hear me, I will give thee money for the field. Take it of me, and I will bury my dead there."

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: "Ephron answered Abraham, saying unto him, My Lord, hearken unto me, the land's worth 400 shekels of silver. What's that betwixt me and thee? Bury therefore thy dead." "And Abraham hearkened unto Ephron, and Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver, which he had named in the audience of the sons of Heth, 400 shekels of silver, current money with the merchant." That is the legal tender of that day.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: "Now the field of Ephron, which was Machpelah, which was before Mamre, the field, and the cave which was therein, and all the trees that were in the field, that were in all the borders round about, were made sure unto Abraham for a possession in the presence of the children of Heth, before all that went in at the gate of his city. And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah, before Mamre, the same is Hebron, in the land of Canaan. And the field and the cave that is therein were made sure unto Abraham for a possession of a burying place by the sons of Heth."

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And apparently, that place today, a mosque built over it, is the mosque there at Hebron. And by the way, it's considered either the second or the third most important mosque of the world of Islam. They have many beautiful mosques. Cairo, and in other places. Some of them that I've seen are absolutely beautiful.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: But the ones that are the most important, of course, would be Mecca first. And I'm not sure whether this one at Hebron or the one in Jerusalem is considered number two. But then the other one would be number three. So you can see how important this is, because they all go back to Abraham.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, that reveals the importance of this chapter. And it's going to become important because Isaac's going to be buried here. And Jacob will die way down in Egypt, and he wants to be buried here, and he is buried there, by the way.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, we come to chapter 24. "And Abraham sends his trusted servant to get a bride for Isaac, back in Mesopotamia in the land of Haran, and the success of the servant in securing Rebekah." And here's one of those, let me say, beautiful chapters of the Bible. It tells a lovely story. A very beautiful story, by the way.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: I want to begin reading. I will not get very far in this chapter. But we're going to see a wonderful love story. And again, it'll reveal that God is interested in the man that you marry, young lady. And he's interested in the young lady that you marry, young man. God's interested in it. I believe that there are two things that God has given to the human family. One is marriage, and the other is capital punishment or that is human government.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: God permits man to rule himself today, and that is something I think is universal. And these are two very important things. Now, when these are broken, a government will fall apart. You see, the home is the background of any government. God knew that. And he made that in marriage.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And we find the same thing true relative to government. A government must have the power to take human life in order to protect human life. That is the purpose of it, because human life is sacred. That's the reason God gave these laws.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now he's interested in your love story. And it's wonderful when you bring God into it. You'll find out that the first miracle our Lord performed was when he went to a wedding in Cana of Galilee. I don't know how many weddings he went to, but he went to that one.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And now as we come to this 24th chapter, "And Abraham was old, well stricken in age, and the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things." Now he's going to send his servant to get a bride for Isaac. But we'll have to save that until next time. So until next time, may God richly bless you, my beloved.

Steve Schwetz: There were some tender, painful moments in this portion of our study. But next time, we're going to turn the page to a beautiful love story. So be sure to hop back aboard the Bible bus next time. If this message touched close to home because you're maybe walking through the loss of someone you love, we'd like to share a booklet called For Those Who Grieve. It's our prayer that these words from scripture will bring comfort and reassurance in a difficult time. You can download a free copy in our app or at ttb.org. Again, that's ttb.org or call 1-800-65-BIBLE if we can help you find it. And when you get in touch, would you tell us how you catch the Bible bus? Is it through our app, maybe your favorite radio station, Alexa, YouTube? Whatever it is, we'd love to know. So thanks in advance, it really does help us plan where and how this ministry can grow in the future. Now, as we go, I want to mention that we've got more great teaching ahead this weekend. So join me this Sunday for the Sunday Sermon by Dr. McGee, titled, "The Greatest Tongues Movement on Record" from Genesis chapter 11. I'm Steve Schwetz, and I'll be here saving a seat on the Bible bus just for you.

Steve Schwetz: Through the Bible is a five-year study of God's entire word, and together we discover God's purposes in history and our lives. Found only when we believe in Jesus Christ. Do you know Him yet?