SEEING JESUS IN THE MAKING OF WOMAN

Seeing Jesus in the Making of Woman

²¹ And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. ²² Then the rib which the LORD God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. Genesis 2:21-22. 

            On our wedding anniversary I am reminded of what my wife Dorothy’s name means. Dorothy is the English version of Δωροθέα (Dōrothéa) which means God’s gift, from δῶρον (dōron) gift and θεός (theós) meaning God. God is about to make Adam a wife as a gift to him in marriage. Adam would call her Eve, which means life-giver.

We note that Adam has already inspected and named all the animals. There was not one of them from land, sea or air that was comparable to him. If we keep in mind what the LORD God is doing here when making a life-giving human being from Adam’s rib, we’ll understand a little more of why “it is not good that man should be alone” (Gen. 2:18a). Having Adam name all the animals, the LORD God was also telling Adam about “the birds and the bees” as we euphemistically say.

Adam had been created with a sexual desire. Therefore, from our perspective, wouldn’t it be somewhat cruel for God not to make a woman, yes, and with a reciprocal desire? So, though this does not exhaust the reason why the Word made Eve, it certainly adds to our understanding why “it is not good that man should be alone.” Though he is addressing Christians in a fallen world, Paul writes that “it is better to marry than to burn with passion” (1 Cor. 7:9).

When the LORD God created creation, He looked at it “and indeed it was very good” (Gen. 1:31). But here’s something in His very good creation that is not good. The thing that was not good was that man should be alone. So, the LORD God made Adam a wife. When the Father (as per Their eternal covenant) gifted His only begotten Son Jesus Christ with all of creation after the Son had redeemed it, it would not have been good if the Man Christ Jesus were to dwell in it all alone. So, the Father chose His Son’s bride before the foundation of the world (Rom. 8:29-30; Eph. 1:4; 1 Pet. 1:2).

Apologies for smashing two Bible verses together, but you’ll see the point after reading them.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love …  Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.” Ephesians 1:3-4, 5:25-27.

Thus, the Father chose a bride for His Son, and His Son, as the Word that became flesh, i.e., the Man Christ Jesus, laid down His life for her. So, Christ, the Word, the second Adam, is about to present Adam, i.e., gift him, with a holy wife, a bride that has been chosen by His Father, a wife that the Son, the Word, is going to present the man, a wife not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, a wife that is holy and without blemish. This, of course, is taking place before Adam rebelled against God.

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        Like Christ on the cross purchasing His bride, the LORD God was going to make a bride for Adam by piercing Adam’s side. Don’t miss the connection between Adam’s “deep sleep” and the last Adam’s death on the cross. Whereas Adam only had a rib surgically removed for his bride, Jesus had His whole body removed. Adam the gardener awoke and saw Eve and Jesus awoke and saw Mary (who thought He was the gardener). “Jesus said to her, ‘Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.’” (John 20:17). The LORD God had already prepared a place for Adam and Eve (the garden) but Jesus said, “In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:2-3). Thus, Jesus is preparing a garden city for His bride, i.e., the garden of Eden whose borders have been extended throughout all the earth.  

As God knows the end from the beginning, He is showing us something of where it all began – if only we would let Him show us! We are reminded that the method we have been using so far to see Jesus in Genesis is simply to have Him identify Himself therein. Yes, the Word interprets the Word. A verse of the old William Cowper hymn, God Moves in a Mysterious Way, springs to mind, 

Blind unbelief is sure to err

And scan His work in vain;

God is His own interpreter,

And He will make it plain.[1]

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            Much tongue-in-cheek speculation has been used to try to understand why the LORD God used one of Adam’s ribs to make the woman – Eve was taken from Adam’s side to be his equal and not from his foot to be downtrodden – that kind of reasoning.

Now, we won’t get too bogged down discussing whether the “water and blood” in the following verses have connections to Christian water baptism and the Lord’s Supper. We merely wish to illustrate the Biblical connections between Adam and his bride and Jesus and His bride. Samuel Stone mentions the water and the blood in relation to Jesus and His Church, 

The Church’s one foundation

Is Jesus Christ her Lord;

She is His new creation,

By water and the word;

From Heav’n He came and sought her

To be His holy bride;

With His own blood He bought her,

And for her life He died.[2]

So, let’s look at Christ’s cross with the LORD God making Eve from Adam’s side clearly in mind. We much prefer the NKJV’s rendering of the following verses, but let’s begin by quoting from the NIV, “This is the one who came by water and blood – Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three that testify: the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement” (1 John 5:6-8). The water here is believed to refer to Jesus’s water baptism (where the poured-out water is the precursor for the fulfillment of God’s promise to pour out His Spirit on all flesh (Acts 2:17) and the blood is believed to refer to His sacrificial atonement which is celebrated in the Lord’s Supper. Anyway, water blood, and Spirit, the required two or three witnesses (Deut. 17:6, 19:15; 1 Tim. 5:19).

Now, the Deuteronomy 17:6 verse has particular relevance to seeing Jesus in Genesis. As already mentioned, Jesus is “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Rev. 13:8b) to which the Spirit testifies to us with His Word. “Whoever is deserving of death shall be put to death on the testimony of two or three witnesses; he shall not be put to death on the testimony of one witness” (Deut. 17:6). We note that the Father was going to “put to death” His incarnate Son. Why? So that His Son could receive the bride He had promised His Son in eternity past in what is known as the Covenant of Redemption, i.e., the redemption being about the Son redeeming, as in buying back, His bride from God’s eternal judgment for rebelling against Him in Adam.

Does this sound complicated? It shouldn’t. This is simply the Gospel as the Triune God had planned it from all eternity. The Father chose the bride and the Son agreed to redeem that bride. The water, the blood, and the Spirit testify to this. This should become clearer if we use the NKJV of 1 John 5:6-7, which supplies a bit of commentary, “This is He who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not only by water, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is truth. For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness on earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three agree as one.”

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        Now back to the death of Jesus and the LORD God making Eve from Adam’s rib. We’ll start with the bare bones of our thesis and then we’ll start to add flesh to our overall dissertation or should that be the other way round? Apparently, their meanings are reversed in American and British English. No matter! Everything in Australia is upside-down anyway! Regardless of the disputes over the meanings of the words thesis and dissertation, there is no dispute that Jesus went to the cross. And if we remember what Gresham Machin says (quoted again here), even Mr Magoo should begin to see what is going on. “‘Christ died’—that is history; ‘Christ died for our sins’—that is doctrine. Without these two elements, joined in an absolutely indissoluble union, there is no Christianity.”[3]

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            Christianity, then, is about both history and doctrine. Whereas history has to do with those things that happened in space and time which are recorded in the sixty-six books of the Bible, doctrine is about what gives meaning to that history. Biblical Theology, as we have noted, looks at the history of redemption through the telescope of God’s progressive revelation, the Bible. If you will, looking through the small end of the telescope towards the cross and the final fulfillment beyond, like God, we can see the end from the beginning. Even from the garden of Eden, we can look at the future up close. We have been using Jesus as our telescope. Therefore, Biblical Theology uses a Christocentric focus which couples, yes, like Adam and Eve’s wedding, marries the Old and New Testaments by using the Scripture’s promises, themes, typologies, and fulfillments to make sense of it all. We do this as the Spirit along with the incarnate Word bear testimony to these things to us through the Word inscripturated. Thus, the Bible viewed in its entirety is used in Biblical Theology.

The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, was baptised (the water), instituted the Lord’s Supper (the blood), and thus redeemed His bride and creation. Thus, using history and doctrine we are able to see Jesus in Genesis. However, like those who cannot see the numbers in the pictures in the colour-blindness test, so those who will not use Scripture to interpret Scripture will be unable to see Jesus in the Old Testament.

Let us now look at Jesus closer so that we can see Him in the making of Eve. We should be familiar with the verse, “Not one of His bones shall be broken” (John 19:36; cf. Exod. 12:46, Num. 9:12, Psa. 34:20). These bones references have to do with Jesus been pictured as the Passover lamb being sacrificed. We have noted already that Jesus was sacrificed for the redemption of His bride.

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        Have you ever seen one of those trick colour-blindness test cards, the ones that have all the coloured dots on them but no number? There you are, squinting and closing one eye and then the other while trying to see a number that is not even there! By omitting the following verse, the NIV adds to what some Christians suffer from when trying to see Jesus in the Old Testament. The NIV says, “for we are members of his body” (Eph. 5:30). But with the no bones broken theme in mind, look at how the NKJV renders that same verse, “For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones” (Eph. 5:30).

Are you now able to see Jesus a bit more clearly in the LORD God making Eve from one of Adam’s ribs? The bride of Jesus quote is in reference to the following, “And Adam said: ‘This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man’” (Gen. 2:23). Say the commentors Keil and Delitzsch,

 

 צלע means the side, and, as a portion of the human body, the rib. The correctness of this meaning, which is given by all the ancient versions, is evident from the words, “God took one of his צלעות ,” which show that the man had several of them. “And closed up flesh in the place thereof ;” i.e., closed the gap which had been made, with flesh which He put in the place of the rib. The woman was created, not of dust of the earth, but from a rib of Adam, because she was formed for an inseparable unity and fellowship of life with the man, and the mode of her creation was to lay the actual foundation for the moral ordinance of marriage.[4]

Now, let’s zoom in on Jesus paying the price for His bride that His Father had asked of Him in the everlasting covenant. “Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who was crucified with Him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. And he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you may believe” (John 19:32-35). Not one bone broken, yet blood and water came out of His side. Just as in the fullness of the time, the Old Testament gives birth to the New Testament, so the Old Testament was pregnant with the Church.

“Now when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour” (Mark 15:33). It was during the darkness of His death that the LORD God gave birth to His bride. And what about Adam? “And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib which the LORD God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man” (Gen. 2:21-22). Did the LORD God break any of Adam’s bones when he removed a rib from his side?

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            Now, we’ve already mentioned “the birds and the bees.” So, we know a bit about progeny production. Would Adam have seen any live births where animals replicate their kind? We don’t know. However, for those in the know, when a woman is pregnant and her water breaks, we know that the offspring is about to arrive. Thus, Adam, in a sense, gave birth to the bone of his bones and flesh of his flesh just as Jesus gave birth to His bride through His death. We note that the LORD God created Adam from the dust of the ground but took Eve out of Adam. So yes, Adam and Eve are related as human beings. However, Adam and Eve may be clone-like but, unlike identical twins, one is male and the other is female.

There may be a little jarring in the mind of the Christian male when he and his brethren are referred to as the bride of Christ. Yet all Christians, whether men, women, or children are just that, they are His bride. Jesus was “made like His brethren” (Heb. 2:17). One of the main ideas of the Great Commission is that Jesus (by His Spirit) and His bride were to produce offspring; and that this offspring should be baptised with water (which signifies His shed blood being applied to them by the Spirit as per the promise of the Father (Acts 2:38-39). Thus, like Adam’s name for his wife, so on earth Jesus’s bride is also the life-giver.

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        Poor old Mr Magoo, but this is where we need to invoke your good name once more. I too was vision impaired until I had a cataract removed. I praised God the day the surgeon removed my eyepatch bandage and I could see! Unlike my other eye through which everything looks yellow and fuzzy, looking through my “new” eye, everything was now crisp, colourful and clear. Alas! Those who suffer from theological vision impairments due to many of the issues we have discussed thus far, won’t see the wisdom of the Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 26, on Holy Baptism, where it spells out the Biblical connections between the water, the blood, and the Spirit, in relation to the Great Commission,

 

Lord’s Day 26

Q & A 69. Q. How does holy baptism remind and assure you that Christ’s one sacrifice on the cross benefits you personally?

A. In this way: Christ instituted this outward washing and with it promised that, as surely as water washes away the dirt from the body, so certainly His blood and His Spirit wash away my soul’s impurity, that is, all my sins

Q & A 70. Q. What does it mean to be washed with Christ’s blood and Spirit?

A. To be washed with Christ’s blood means that God, by grace, has forgiven our sins because of Christ’s blood poured out for us in His sacrifice on the cross. To be washed with Christ’s Spirit means that the Holy Spirit has renewed and sanctified us to be members of Christ, so that more and more we become dead to sin and live holy and blameless lives.

Q & A 71. Q. Where does Christ promise that we are washed with His blood and Spirit as surely as we are washed with the water of baptism?

A. In the institution of baptism, where He says: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” “The one who believes and is baptized will be saved but the one who does not believe will be condemned.” This promise is repeated when Scripture calls baptism “the water of rebirth” and the washing away of sins.

Lord’s Day 27

Q & A 72. Q. Does this outward washing with water itself wash away sins?

A. No, only Jesus Christ’s blood and the Holy Spirit cleanse us from all sins.

Q & A 73. Q. Why then does the Holy Spirit call baptism the water of rebirth and the washing away of sins?

A. God has good reason for these words. To begin with, God wants to teach us that the blood and Spirit of Christ take away our sins just as water removes dirt from the body. But more important, God wants to assure us, by this divine pledge and sign, that we are as truly washed of our sins spiritually as our bodies are washed with water physically.

Q & A 74.

Q. Should infants also be baptized?

A. Yes. Infants as well as adults are included in God’s covenant and people, and they, no less than adults, are promised deliverance from sin through Christ’s blood
and the Holy Spirit who produces faith. Therefore, by baptism, the sign of the covenant, they too should be incorporated into the Christian church and distinguished from the children of unbelievers. This was done in the Old Testament by circumcision, which was replaced in the New Testament by baptism.

Since unbloody baptism has replaced bloody circumcision and unbloody Lord’s Supper has replaced bloody Passover because Jesus has already removed our sins, as His redeemed bride on Earth and as Eve was to Adam, we're now able to work with Him as His helper. By our mutual obedience to the Great Commission, in the power of His Spirit, we extend the borders of the garden, the garden which He is preparing for us. Thus, we assist Him by our being homemakers like Eve, i.e., setting up our new home, which is here on Earth.     

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[1] William Cowper (1731-1800), Revised Church Hymnal, Hymn 31.

[2] Samuel John Stone (1839-1900), Revised Church Hymnal, Hymn 205.

[3] J. Gresham Machen, Christianity and Liberalism, New Edition (Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2009), 27.

[4] CF Keil and F Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, 1857, 1:89.

TOM'S LAW (Review)

Tom’s Law: A Life Fit for Living (2022) by Tom Law is a 215-page autobiography consisting of a series of short two-page anecdotal stories (with occasional picture-drawing illustrations). Some are serious, but most are humorous. I burst out laughing not a few times at the comedic word pictures Tom paints!

The reader accompanies Tom as he is transported from Scotland at an early age with mum, dad and a little sister to an alien culture where exiled convicts had gone before him. He quickly adapts to the Australian lifestyle and climate, school, cricket, boxing, and various other sports, especially soccer.

Tom’s early troubled family life, his married life, and his various life careers are displayed, warts and all. His lengthy army career and his stints as a gym manager/fitness instructor bring with them a full backpack made lighter by many laughs along the trail.

I found this biography to be therapeutic, acting as a kind of mirror. As Tom told his life story, I caught myself looking at some of my own. I’m sure it will cause you to reflect on your own life too.

SEEING JESUS IN ADAM NAMING THE ANIMALS

Seeing Jesus in Adam Naming the Animals

¹⁸ And the LORD God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.” ¹⁹ Out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. ²⁰ So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him. Genesis 2:18-20.

When it comes to Adam naming the creatures God created to live in His creation, scientific study comes to the fore. Adam didn’t say to the parrot, “I shall name you Polly!” Or to the cow, “I’ll call you Daisy!” Or “Dobbin!” to the horse or “Fido!” to the dog! or Flipper! to the dolphin. No! He named the creatures according to their essence. He catalogued them each according to their kind. Why? Because that’s the way God made them. “Then God said, ‘Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind’; and it was so” (Gen. 1:24). Says John Frame,

God’s word interprets His creation. After he creates the light, we read that “God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night” (Gen. 1:5). Similarly in verses 8 and 10. Calling or naming in the ancient Near East was not merely labelling. These names were not arbitrary designators, or chosen merely for aesthetic reasons as we often choose names for our children. These names said something about the thing that was named. In giving names to his creatures, and later asking Adam to name the animals (2:19-20), God established a linguistic system in which the true nature of everything could be expressed. As he has by his plan preinterpreted all things, so in creation he applies that interpretation to the world and makes that interpretation authoritative for all creatures. That interpretation includes evaluation. God looks on his creations and declares them good (1:4, 12, 18, 21, 25, 31).[1] 

Before we look at “It is not good that man should be alone”, let us mention in passing that fallen man has reinterpreted creation and the creatures therein. “They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen” (Rom. 1:25). Therefore, it is best and far safer and more accurate to let God interpret His own creation including His own written Word. Thus, Sola Scriptura.

Now, we have already stated that the method that we are using to see Jesus in Genesis is a form of Biblical Theology. It is a method of using the Word incarnated to interpret the Word inscripturated. It is to let Scripture interpret Scripture. We have mentioned the words Sola Scriptura. Sola Scriptura means by Scripture alone. It came out of the Reformation. It asserts that the infallible Bible is the final authority when it comes to faith and Christian practice. Now, as we’ll see once we get into the thick of Adam naming the animals, Sola Scriptura also includes utilising church tradition, creeds, and historical theological insights when it comes to understanding Scripture.

            We have already utilised Mr Magoo as a fun way to illustrate some of the dangers of being myopic when looking at the Scriptures. Another not so funny myopic view is named Solo Scriptura, which aptly describes Mr Magoo squinting at Scripture. Solo Scriptura may resemble the words Sola Scriptura, but it is an animal of a completely different kind.

Solo Scriptura also goes by the name Nuda Scriptura, and, as the name suggests, it means Bare Scripture. Like a cuckoo’s egg laid in an inattentive and therefore an unsuspecting bird’s nest, Nuda Scriptura or Solo Scriptura insists that the only rule of faith is Scripture alone while rejecting all the Church’s historical creeds, confessions, and church authority. It’s kind of an “every man for himself!” way of interpreting Scripture. Thus, according to this approach, any Mr Magoo-like view of Scripture is as good as any other.

No doubt, these “nudists” will either ignore or pretend not to see the following quote from the Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 1, Of the Holy Scripture, and what it says under sections 9 and 10,

 

9.  The infallible rule of interpretation of Scripture is the Scripture itself: and therefore, when there is a question about the true and full sense of any Scripture (which is not manifold, but one), it must be searched and known by other places that speak more clearly.

10.  The supreme judge by which all controversies of religion are to be determined, and all decrees of councils, opinions of ancient writers, doctrines of men, and private spirits, are to be examined, and in whose sentence we are to rest, can be no other but the Holy Spirit speaking in the Scripture.

            By naming all the animals the LORD God brought to him, he was going to see how alone he was. “But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him.” Budgies are good company and chimps would be a good help around the house and dogs may be man’s best friend, but nothing compares. Only a woman will do. The LORD God was going to make a comparable helper for Adam to help him bring God glory by accurately interpreting God’s revelation of Himself in creation. We’ll see up ahead when we get to it, that eating the forbidden fruit is related to Adam wanting to interpret creation his own way and not God’s way. He wanted to determine for himself what was good and what was evil apart from God’s preinterpretation. In other words, Adam sought autonomy from God.

You’ll remember that Adam already has the means of interpreting God’s revelation wherever it is found in creation. For he already has God’s Word in his mind and written on his heart. The character of God, as revealed in His Ten Commandments, has already been written on his heart. This is a major aspect of being created in God’s image and likeness. Therefore, Adam is able to utilise the hermeneutic of the Word interpreting the Word, of which Sola Scriptura is the post-Fall equivalent.

Let’s not forget that before he lost it for himself and for all mankind, Adam had true knowledge. Yes, like Jesus, the second Adam, before the Fall, the first Adam was without sin, sin that seeped into and tainted every aspect of our being when Adam sinned in the garden rebellion. Therefore, he would glorify God simply by looking at His handiwork. He was invited by the LORD God (i.e., the preincarnate Jesus) to look at the creatures He had created.

The Westminster Larger Catechism reminds us of Adam’s (and mankind’s main) purpose, “What is the chief and highest end of man? Man’s chief and highest end is to glorify God, and fully enjoy Him for ever.” Adam would have been glorifying God and fully enjoying Him as he studied the creatures of God’s creation. Says Dane Ortlund,

Joy is not a laughing stallion but a galloping one, not a smiling eagle but a soaring one. It is being what God created us to be. And therefore joy is our most native language as human beings made in the image of a raucously joyous God. It is what we were made for. Dane Ortlund, Finally Home – The Christian Hope of Heaven, (Crossway, Wheaton, Illinois, 2026), 64.

            Now, because all mankind is descended from them, let us acknowledge that the genes of Adam and Eve contained genetic information for every human skin and eye colour.  Likewise, the animals would be proto-dogs, proto-cats, proto-doves etc. Wolf-like animals with all the genetic information from Great Dane to Chihuahua, cow-like animals that would develop into branches from bison to Aberdeen Angus. Camel-like animals from dromedaries to llamas. Mastodons and mammoths would be some kind of elephants etc. Same with sheep and all the other critters. And, yes, of course, there would be those critters called “dinosaurs.” However, Adam would not have categorised any kind as dinosaur simply because this is a fairly recent categorisation by fallen man as part of an unbiblical theory. No doubt these would have been catalogued by Adam under the designation lizard-like, from tyrannosaurus rex to stegosaurus etc. To be sure, as one would expect, the fossilised remains of many of these animal kinds have been found in post-Flood sedimentary rock. However, those who ignore Scripture have had to concoct theories such as comets crashing to earth to prop up their anti-Scripture theories. This is merely an extension of Adam rebelling by wanting to interpret the LORD God’s creation for himself without God.

We see revelation of their Creator even in simple sayings such as brave as a lion, swift as a hawk, strong as an ox, graceful as a gazelle, gentle as a dove, wise as an owl or a serpent etc. The golden calf was a simile on steroids!

So, where do we see Jesus in the naming of the animals? Well, He called Herod “that fox” (Luke 13:32), and the Pharisees and religious people a “brood of vipers”, snakes etc., but this is not what we mean.

The Word “called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night” (Gen. 1:5), “called the firmament Heaven” (1:8), “the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas” (1:10), “He brings out the starry host one by one and calls forth each of them by name” (Isa. 40:26). And just as the first Adam named his wife Eve, so the last Adam named His bride, Sheep. “Know that the LORD, He is God; it is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people and the sheep of His pasture” (Psa. 100:3). “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:27). He calls us by name. Therefore, like Adam naming the creatures, He is naming us.

When Adam named the animals, he was looking below the surface. He knew what was in them just as Jesus “knew what was in man” (John 2:25). Adam was learning how to tell the difference between clean and unclean animals, just as Noah knew the difference when the LORD God sent them to him on the ark. “You shall take with you seven each of every clean animal, a male and his female; two each of animals that are unclean, a male and his female” (Gen 7:2).

Why would Adam need to know the difference between clean and unclean animals? Because the clean animals were going to represent the Word who was going to become flesh and become a life-giving sacrifice. “Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar” (Gen. 8:20). So, Adam naming the animals had to do with Jesus laying down His life as a substitute to pay for our sins against Him.

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        Peter knew the difference too, “Peter … saw heaven opened and an object like a great sheet bound at the four corners, descending to him and let down to the earth. In it were all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air. And a voice came to him, ‘Rise, Peter; kill and eat.’ But Peter said, ‘Not so, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean.’ And a voice spoke to him again the second time, ‘What God has cleansed you must not call common’ This was done three times. And the object was taken up into heaven again” (Acts 10:11-16).

Don’t miss the LORD God’s Gospel message in the first animal sacrifice, “Also for Adam and his wife the LORD God made tunics of skin, and clothed them” (Gen. 3:21). And let’s not forget that when Adam named the creatures, he knew that none of them were comparable to him. He knew that there need to be a perfect substitute, a human substitute, a human representative, a covenant representative, to represent him before God’s tribunal.

Therefore, naming the animals was connected to the threat of death for eating the forbidden fruit. It was related to the penalty. Adam, “You are of more value than many sparrows” (Matt. 10:31). “With what shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the High God? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” (Micah 6:6-7). Yes, Adam, it is going to cost you the fruit of your body for the sin of your soul. “Now Jesus Himself began His ministry at about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, the son of Heli … the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God” (Luke 3:23, 38).

Are you, like me, getting the impression that by Adam naming the animals he was naming his own worth, including the worth of mankind that would descend from him? “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?” (Mark 8:36). By naming the animals Adam was not only learning about them and their Creator, he was learning about the serious consequences of disobeying the LORD God, for breaking His covenant. He was learning the meaning of death. “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Gen. 2:17b).

The LORD God changed people’s names, such as naming Abram Abraham, Jacob Israel, Cephas Peter, Saul Paul and all the rest. Harking back to His covering Adam and Eve with skin from a proto-sheep, He named Himself “The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29b). This is “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Rev. 13:8b).

Yes, when Adam named the animals, including the proto-sheep, we think of the verse, “He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth” (Isa. 53:7). However, with the penalty for eating the forbidden fruit in mind, while applying it to Jesus, we think of Jeremiah saying, “But I was like a docile lamb brought to the slaughter; and I did not know that they had devised schemes against me, saying, ‘Let us destroy the tree with its fruit, and let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be remembered no more’” (Jer. 11:19).

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           So, back to the Lamb. “Whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name” (Gen. 2:19b). None were “comparable to him” (Gen. 2:20b). Did he catalogue and categorise them each according to its kind by writing their names and descriptions in a book. Charles Darwin took a Mr Magoo view of things as he tried to catalogue God’s critters while sailing around the world on the Beagle.

What about the Word who became flesh naming people, cataloguing them each according to their kind? “All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast – all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world” (Rev. 13:8).

So, we see Jesus the Lamb of God in Adam naming the animals. And we see that Adam could tell the difference between the clean and the unclean, just as Jesus knew who were His sheep, the ones He knew by name. “But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:27).

And notice that Jesus, like Adam pre-Fall, can tell the difference between sheep and goats. “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world’” (Matt. 25:31-34).

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        Separating sheep from goats is not always easy because of their many superficial similarities. However, the Good Shepherd, like Adam naming the animals according to their essence, so Jesus “knew what was in man.” From Adam onwards, definitely with Noah, we see that man is able to differentiate clean from unclean animals. This, of course, became a big thing in the religious ceremonies of Old Testament Israel, which, among many other things, involved priests sacrificing clean animals in terms of the administration of God’s covenant at that time.

The priestly sacrificial system prefigured the coming of the Great High Priest, Jesus Christ, who would sacrifice Himself as “The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29b). Thus, the new covenant that God promised through Jeremiah, the one that is “not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers” (Jer. 31:32), is new because He has nullified the old administration. “In that He says, ‘A new covenant,’ He has made the first obsolete” (Heb. 8:13a). Therefore, Old Testament Israel’s religious ceremonies have been fulfilled by the second Adam, our Prophet, Priest, and King.

Surely by now even Mr Magoo can see that it is best to let the Word incarnated interpret His Word inscripturated! Adam naming the animals, Noah then Moses discerning which is which in order to separate clean from unclean animals, then the last Adam, to whom the religious sacrifice of clean animals pointed, separating the sheep from the goats.

Also, we already mentioned that Old Testament Israel’s priestcraft dealt mainly in the sphere of holiness, the kings in righteousness, and the prophets were to make sure the priests and kings operated in accordance with God’s manual for instruction, i.e., His covenant. Thus, God used his prophets to ensure that His Moral Law was being applied properly by the priests and kings each in their respective spheres: priests in worshiping God in the beauty of holiness, and kings ruling righteously in righteousness. Therefore, God’s covenant, reflecting His Triune nature, comprises of the three interconnected and interpenetrating spheres, viz., Moral Law, Ceremonial Law, and Civil/Judicial Law, which are true knowledge, holiness, and righteousness respectively.

Adam, being in the image of the LORD God, and having revelation of His character (i.e., His Moral Law) in his mind and stamped on his heart, was invited by the Word to engage his (Adam’s) prophetic knowledge, his priestly holiness, and his kingly righteousness and name the animals. The new Adam does all of this in terms of the Word’s new covenant. Thus, Jesus is our Prophet, Priest, and King in the new covenant.

            If Mr Magoo were to politely ask, How do you get all of that from Adam naming the animals? We would respectfully answer, Sola Scriptura. We see Jesus in the naming of the animals by allowing Scripture to interpret Itself. Yes, God’s Word also interprets Gods creation because both are revelation of Him. Ortlund again,

 
            "Lions and ladybugs, roses and rhododendrons, creeks and caves, stars and sunsets. All are songs the lyrics of which are doing theology. The created order is separate from God but pervasively and deliberately reflecting him. Above all: another human’s face, especially the eyes. The world all around us, ignored and consumed, is aglow with irrepressible reflections of the divine." (p. 84)

What happened to Old Testament Israel now that the Word has brought in His new covenant and the old administration of it has become obsolete? Westminster Confession of Faith, in chapter 19, paragraphs 3-5, Of the Law of God, summarises what the Bible teaches on this,

3.  Beside this law, commonly called moral, God was pleased to give to the people of Israel, as a church under age, ceremonial laws, containing several typical ordinances, partly of worship, prefiguring Christ, His graces, actions, sufferings, and benefits; and partly, holding forth divers instructions of moral duties. All which ceremonial laws are now abrogated, under the New Testament.

4.  To them also, as a body politic, He gave sundry judicial laws, which expired together with the State of that people; not obliging any other now, further than the general equity thereof may require.

5.  The moral law doth forever bind all, as well justified persons as others, to the obedience thereof; and that, not only in regard of the matter contained in it, but also in respect of the authority of God the Creator, who gave it. Neither doth Christ, in the gospel, any way dissolve, but much strengthen this obligation.[1]

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[1] Book of Forms, Reformed Churches of Australia, (Reformed Churches Publishing House, Geelong, Victoria,1991), 165.

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[1] John M. Frame, Systematic Theology – An Introduction to Christian Belief, (P&R, Phillipsburg, New Jersey, 2013), 188.

COUNT THE STARS

                                                                COUNT THE STARS 

“Then He brought him outside and said, ‘Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.’ And He said to him, ‘So shall your descendants be’” Genesis 15:5.

Introduction

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            The general gist of what we are looking at in the following is: Every Christian is a star, but only God can count us!

The Lord has already told Abram of His plan to make Abram “a great nation” in Genesis 12:2. “You shall be a blessing … And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (12:2b-3b). So, what’s the problem? Well Abram’s wondering where his descendants are going to come from. He has no children. He’s not getting any younger and neither is his wife, Sarah. And to complicate matters we’re told in Genesis 11:30, “Sarai is barren.” Yet the LORD has stated that through his descendants, not only will Abram be blessed, but so will all the families of the earth.

We see then that the Lord has already promised Abram a future blessing. He already knows something of the magnitude of this blessing. He already knows that this promised blessing has to do with making restitution for his sins. He already knows this because he’s been building altars of sacrifice around the place, (see e.g. Gen. 12:7, 8; 13:4, 18). He already knows his sin needed to be paid for. The sacrificial animal was a picture of that. He already knows that the animal he places on the altar is merely a substitute for himself. He already knows that the promised blessing has everything to do with the removal of his sin. And he already knows because the Lord has already revealed it to him. So, what then is the problem?

The Problem

Can’t Abram just believe the promise and get on with it? Isn’t that how the Old Testament saints were saved, i.e. through believing the promise of salvation? So here we meet the problem face to face. It’s subtle, so pay attention. I put it to you that there’s a difference between believing in the things a person says and actually believing in that person. It’s the difference between believing in a promise or believing in the one who makes the promise. I said it was subtle, didn’t I?

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        Let me see if I can explain this further. New cars come with a manual, don’t they? – an instruction book. If you follow the instructions in that manual your car should run great. Follow the manual or instructions for anything, washing machine, video-player, TV, automobile, whatever, and you have a money back guarantee, you’ll have no problem. In other words, the instruction manual is a sort of promise, isn’t it? It’s promising that if you put the nuts and bolts on the right way and press the proper switches, the thing will work.

Now, I don’t have to tell you that the Bible is a manual of sorts. And I don’t have to tell you lots of people use the Bible as a manual. They get results, from a well-ordered family to a well-ordered society. You only have to trust in the promises of Scripture and put them into practice to see that they work. But here’s my point: Do you know the person who wrote the manual for your car? Do you know the person who wrote the manual for your washing machine, toaster, video-player? Maybe you trust in the Bible as your manual. Maybe you’re just trusting in the promises the Bible makes. Do this or that and you’ll be all right. But are you trusting in the One who wrote the Bible?

If you’re still having a problem seeing how you can separate the promise from the promise-maker, then consider the Mormons. You’d hardly meet a nicer bunch of people than the Mormons. Some of you will remember the Osmond family who were big in the 70s and 80s. They were a musical band of pop singers (if you don’t know!). The Mormons exemplify a great deal of what the Bible teaches, don’t they? But who would dare say that the Mormons know the One who wrote the Bible? Jesus addresses this very thing where He says to the Pharisees, “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life” (John 5:39-40). The Mormons, (unlike Christians who are Trinitarian and therefore worship one God), are tri-theists and thus worship three gods. Therefore, the Mormons have another Jesus, i.e., a Jesus different to the One revealed in the Bible.

So, what does all of this have to do with Abram? Well, up till now he’s been trusting in the promises of the LORD. The LORD has promised him land, and He has promised him descendants. And the LORD has promised that all the families of the earth shall be blessed in Abram. So, here’s Abram’s problem then: How is this promised blessing supposed to come to pass without an heir, i.e., without a son from his own loins? His redemption, his forgiveness of sins, his eternal life, his blessing depends upon this heir. That’s what the promises are all about. That is how Abram understood them.

Abram’s problem then is this: Where is the substance of the promise? Where or who is the One in whom I’ve to put my trust? “I know he’s to be somewhere in among my descendants. But how can this be since I personally don’t have any?” So Abram starts going on to God about his servant Eliezer having to be his heir. And that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to him. It’s like when the angel Gabriel told Mary the mother of Jesus that she was going to conceive. “How can this be?” she asked, “Since I do not know a man.” Mary was also reminded that Elizabeth her relative who was called barren conceived a son in her old age. “For with God nothing will be impossible” is what she was told. Abram, in our text, is suffering something of the same problem as Mary. He knows what God’s planning to do because God has already told him. However, he’s struggling to understand how God is going to execute His plan. So the issue of offspring is weighing heavily on Abram’s mind (e.g., Gen. 15:2-3).

So, let’s look a bit closer at what’s going on and see if we can find the solution to the problem.

The Promise

We’re going to see, in the words of a couple of the commentators, that, “Abraham’s faith was faith in the God who had promised, [and] not merely in what had been promised.” The Lord has come to Abram in a vision. The whole of Genesis 15 records what happened in that vision. I’m not going to digress too long to talk about the nature of visions in the Bible. We’re more interested in the contents of the vision than the actual nature of the vision itself. However, we do need to make a couple of general comments on the nature of this vision because it does have an effect on the way we are to understand its content.

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Before His Church had His completed written revelation, i.e., the Bible, the Lord used other ways to reveal Himself and His Plan of Redemption to His people. The Plan of Redemption as it is revealed is called the Covenant of Grace by theologians. God reveals Himself in His Covenant of Grace. The Bible, i.e., the Scriptures, is the record of this. Jesus, as stated earlier, says, “These are they which testify of Me” (John 5:39). And as the Apostle Paul says about Jesus, “All the promises of God are in Him Yes and Amen” (2 Cor. 1:20). And he also says, “There is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 2:5). We should keep in mind that Christ is the go between between God and men. Christ is the One who represents God before men. And He also is the One who represents men before God. He alone is the Mediator.

So then, in the Old Testament Christ the Mediator mediated between God and men in various ways. God was making Himself known to Abram by that method of revelation known as vision. Let’s look at a portion of Scripture which might help us. Then we’ll get into the more important content of the vision. The Book of Numbers 12:6-8, “Then He said, ‘Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I, the LORD, make Myself known to him in a vision, And I speak to him in a dream. Not so with My servant Moses; He is faithful in all My house. I speak with him face to face, even plainly, and not in dark sayings; and he sees the form of the LORD...’”  So, we see then, Abram is a prophet of God because the Lord has made Himself known to him in a vision, (see Gen. 15:1).

The curious thing about this passage is that the Lord seems to be making Himself known to Abram in a vision and in a dream. In Genesis 15:12 we’re told, “a deep sleep fell upon Abram.” However, there’s something we need to remember from the Numbers 12 passage: When the Lord made Himself known face to face, (literally, mouth to mouth in the Hebrew), the revelation was clearer than in a vision or dream. Face to face revelation is plain as opposed to dark sayings or riddles in vision or dream. It’s the difference between truth by parable and truth by verbal proposition. However, the LORD is revealing Himself to Abram in a vision and also a dream.

Abram’s mental faculties would be heightened and intensified by a power-surge from the LORD. Yet because of the nature of the revelation, Abram would still be straining his eyes to see. The Apostle Paul says what I’m trying to say in these words, “For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face” (1 Cor. 13:12a). The element of mystery is gone when the LORD makes Himself known face to face. We see then in Genesis 15 that the LORD is making Himself known to Abram, as it were, in the dark. “Oh for a match to strike for a glimpse of my Lord’s face!” Alas Scripture says, “The just [i.e., the justified, the righteous] shall live by faith” (Rom. 1:17).

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        If you were to think about it, one might get the impression that Abram’s more interested in what the LORD has promised than in the LORD Himself. We’ve already noted Abram’s concern about not having any offspring of his own, i.e., descendants whom the LORD has promised him. Therefore, we might be forgiven for being all the more suspicious of this in light of what the Word of the LORD says to him in Genesis 15:1 “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.”

We noted above that some wish to translate this: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your reward shall be very great.” And we must admit that it is possible to translate the Hebrew that way. But surely context has everything to do with it? The question before us is this: Was it the LORD Himself that Abram wanted or was it the LORD’s reward? Was Abram trusting in a promise or was he trusting in the LORD? Did he believe the things of God or does he believe in God? Does he have faith in the manual, or does he have faith in the one who wrote it? We’ve already seen that this is not the same thing. It’s the difference between believing God because He gives you things and believing in Him because of who He is. It can be the difference between following the teaching but not the teacher. This is why I don’t like the translation, “I am your shield, your reward shall be very great.” Because translated thus, look at what it makes Abram to be saying in the next verse, “Lord God, what will you give me, seeing I go childless?” It makes Abram (whom the New Testament calls the “Father of the Faithful” out to be interested mainly in what the LORD has promised him and not so much in the LORD Himself! “Abram, your reward shall be very great” “O goody! What am I going to get? Let me see, I wouldn’t mind some of those descendants You promised me, seeing I’m childless.”

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        There are people who treat God like the great ATM in the sky. They punch in their secret code while they make sure no-one’s looking over their shoulder. They make the impersonal transaction and they’re off to spend their inheritance. However, like wanting the personal touch in talking to a bank teller face to face, so real Christians want to talk to God face to face. They’re interested in Him. They want to talk to Him, and God in turn, is interested in the real Christian.

Notice in our passage that the Word of the LORD is conversing with Abram. He’s concerned about Abram, “Abram, do not be afraid.” Does this sound like someone you know? The One who says to His disciples, “Fear not!” The One who says, “Lo, I am with you always. I am your shield.” The One who is called Immanuel “God with us.” It is He who is talking to Abram. It is He who is Abram’s exceedingly great reward. He is the Word who would become flesh and walk on this earth for some thirty-three years. He is the One who would one day say to Thomas, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” He is the One talking with Abram in this vision. He is the One who makes known God. He is the One in whom Abram is trusting. He’s the One who is making Himself known in this vision and speaking to Abram in a dream as God.

So, how do we know positively and absolutely Abram’s trust is in the writer of the manual rather than the manual itself? “And he believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness” (Gen. 15:6). Your Bible might have decided to leave out that little insignificant word. But believe me, the word “in” is in the Hebrew without dispute. And as we’ve seen, it makes the whole difference between Abram believing in the promises, and believing in the One who makes the promises. Abram, as we’ve seen before, didn’t put his faith in riches, even when those blessings and riches came from, or were to come from, the LORD. No, Genesis 15:6, “Abram believed in the LORD.” Here is that great doctrine taken up in the New Testament, i.e., the doctrine of Justification. The great doctrine which was rediscovered at the time of the Reformation. It’s the doctrine which is the very heart of the Gospel of Salvation.

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            But just one last “kick at the cat” as they say in Canada, before we begin to tie things in a nice bow. And you’ll probably want to take me outside and clobber me for saying this! But what we’ve looked at is the difference between clinging to the old rugged cross and clinging to Jesus. I love that old hymn. It’s one of my favorites. However, if you’re clinging to a lump of wood, then let go.

Lots of people the world over know what Jesus did. But the question is not: Do you know what Jesus did? But rather do you know Jesus Himself? And of course, we learn more about Him through the things He did while on earth. We learn things about God through the things that He has made, which is to say that we can know something of the Creator by studying His creation. However, Paul in Romans 1:25 speaks of those who worship the creature or creation rather than the Creator. So, subtle as it is, using the same line of reasoning, I believe we need to be careful to believe in the One who makes the Promises, and not just the promises themselves. It’s not “Whosoever believes Him’ but rather it’s “Whosoever believes IN Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.” Abram believed IN Him and the LORD accounted it to him for righteousness.” He believed because the LORD had made Himself known to him, which is to say that the One who wrote the Book appeared to him, albeit in a vision and a dream.

The Profusion

We have a question left unanswered. Why was Abram so concerned that he was childless, i.e., that the LORD had given him no offspring? Well, I put it to you that Abram was keen as mustard to share his reward. He wanted EVERY family on earth to be blessed with his blessing. Abram loved God and he loved his neighbor as himself. But he needed a son in order for the blessings to flow to all the nations. Because that’s the way the LORD had already promised to him that it would happen.

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        “And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen. 12:3b). The blessings on the families or nations would come through Abram and his offspring. As the Apostle says, “Those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham” (Gal. 3:9). Abram’s champing at the bit to see the promised blessings poured out on the whole world. As Jesus said, “Your father Abram rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.” Keep in mind that father Abraham was a non-Jew. The Day being spoken of was when Jew and non-Jew, (i.e., the ethnoi, meaning all the nations including the Gentiles), yes, ALL the nations, would know his God, the God in whom he was presently trusting.

And Abram along with all the saints in heaven long for the day, “When the earth shall be covered with the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea” (Hab. 2:14). Had Abram been interested more in the promises than the LORD Himself, surely the LORD would have rebuked him? But instead, look at what our gracious LORD did for our father Abram. In Genesis 12:4 the LORD reassured Abram that Abram would produce a son from his own body. And in the very next verse says, “Then He brought him outside and said, ‘Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.’ And He said to him, ‘So shall your descendants be.’” And you thought heaven was practically empty, didn’t you? You thought that most people were going to hell? Well, all I can say is what the LORD says, “Count the stars if you are able to number them.”

Well, in Abram’s eyes you are a star! How does it feel to be a star? Every time Abram looked at the starry skies he’d see you in heaven. I’m sure if you read Psalm 19 right about now it would begin to make a great deal of sense. Let me try you with the first couple of verses, “The heavens declare the glory of God: and the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge.”

Whether you’re in Scotland or upside down in Australia, look now to heaven. As Abram looked at his descendants (including even you and me) in the stars, do you think he knew our names? No, but the One in whom he put his trust knows our names. The Psalmist says of the LORD, “He counts the number of the stars; He calls them all by name” (Psa. 147:4). The LORD says, “Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these things, Who brings out their host by number; He calls them all by name, by the greatness of His might and the strength of His power; not one is missing” (Isa. 40:26). Jesus Christ says to His Father, “Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled” (John 17:12b).

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        Oh yes, if you look at the night sky, you’ll see that by far the majority stay put. However, you will see one or two moving about the place. Jude speaks of them where he says, “[They are] wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever” (Jude 13). But what about the vast majority? Well, the prophet Daniel says, “Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever” (Dan. 12:3). So, count the stars – if you are able to number them.

Conclusion

Arithmetic was never one of my strong points. But I don’t think all Abram’s children (i.e., all who will believe) have been called into the LORD’s Church yet. In fact, I don’t think we’re anywhere near the number of stars in heaven. So, we can see that we’ve still got lots of work to do. So, keep on telling your neighbours about Christ. And if they say to you that the church is just about dead, you tell them what the Lord told Abram. “Count the stars if you are able to number them.” But keep your eye on the One Scripture calls “...The Bright and Morning Star.” Make sure, like our father Abram, you are believing in the LORD.