Apologetics
Isaiah 47:9 Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, (10) DECLARING THE END FROM THE BEGINNING, and from ancient times THINGS THAT ARE NOT YET DONE, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure.’
(Note: The book of Revelation is not sealed; Revelation 22:10—And he (the angel) said to me, “Do not seal the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand. Baker’s on-line Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology; Seal: a seal, in biblical times as today, is used to guarantee security or indicate ownership. Smith’s on-line Bible Dictionary; Seal: The importance attached to seals in the East is so great that without one no document is regarded as authentic. Nave’s Topical Bible; Seal: Figurative of secrecy; certainty of divine approval. It is very important to note however, that we read in John 6:27-(referring to Jesus) God the Father has set His seal on Him. We read in this same passage in verse 33, “For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.)
Nave’s Topical Bible: Jacob, (Supplanter) son of Isaac, and the twin brother of Esau. Gen. 25:24-26; Ancestor of Jesus Matthew 1:2; obtains Esau’s birthright for just one bowl of stew. Genesis 25:29-34, Hebrews 12:16; fraudulently obtains his fathers blessing. Genesis 27:1-29, Hebrews 11:20.
How does Jacob pertain to us, and just who is the modern day Jacob? I believe that we can find the answer to that question in Psalm 24:6—This is Jacob, the generation of those who seek Him, who seek Your face. Psalm 105:3—Glory in His holy name; Let the hearts of those rejoice who seek the Lord! (4) Seek the Lord and His strength: Seek His face evermore! (5) Remember His marvelous works which He has done, His wonder, and the judgments of His mouth, (6) O seed of Abraham His servant! You children of Jacob, His chosen ones! (Matthew 22:14—“For many are called, but few are chosen.”) 1Chron. 16:13—O seed of Israel His servant, you children of Jacob, His chosen ones! (14) He is the Lord our God; His judgments are in all the earth. (15) Remember His covenant FOREVER, The word which He commanded, for a thousand generations, (16) the covenant which He made with Abraham, and His oath to Isaac, (17) and confirmed it to Jacob for a statute, to Israel for AN EVERLASTING COVENANT. Ps. 111:5—He will ever be mindful of His covenant. (6) He has declared to His people the power of His works, in giving them the heritage of the nations. (Isaiah 41:8—“But you, Israel, are My servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the descendants of Abraham My friend. (9) You whom I have taken FROM THE ENDS OF THE EARTH, and called from its farthest regions, and said to you, you are My servant, I have chosen you and have not cast you away:
An interesting aspect concerning Jacob’s name: (NKJV)
Genesis 32:24—Then Jacob was left alone; and a Man wrestled with him until the breaking of day. (26) And He said, “Let Me go, for the day breaks,” But he (Jacob) said, “I will not let You go unless You bless me! (Scripture insert: Ps. 38:22-- For those who are blessed by Him shall inherit the earth but those who are cursed by Him shall be cut off.) (27) So He said to him, “What is your name? and he said, “Jacob,” (28) And He said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but ISRAEL: for you have STRUGGLED WITH GOD AND WITH MEN, AND HAVE PREVAILED.”
Ps. 115: 16—The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord’s; but the earth He has given to the children of men. (17) The dead do not praise the Lord, nor any who go down into silence. (Scripture insert: Pro. 3:32—But His secret counsel is with the upright. Pro.2:21-For the upright will dwell in the land, and the blameless will remain in it; (22) But the wicked will be cut off from the earth, and the unfaithful will be uprooted from it. Ps.25:8—Good and upright is the Lord; Therefore He teaches sinners in the way. (12)Who is the man that fears the Lord? Him shall He teach in the way He chooses, (13) He himself shall dwell in prosperity, and his descendants shall inherit the earth. (14) The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him, and He will show them His covenant.
Returning to Genesis 32:28—And He said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel: for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed. So here we see the name Israel, being handed down to Jacob, and now also to the generation of those who seek His face. Psalm 130:7—O Israel, hope in the Lord; for with the Lord there is mercy, and with Him is abundant redemption. Ps. 146:5—Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God. Micah 5: (8) And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles, in the midst of many peoples.
Isaac’s blessing:
Genesis 28:1—Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him, and charged him, and said to him: (3) May God Almighty bless you, and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may be an assembly of peoples; (4) And give; you the blessing of Abraham, to you and your descendants with you, that you may inherit the land (promise land?) in which you are a stranger, which God gave to Abraham.” Interestingly enough Jacob also had a dream…Genesis 28:12—Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. (13) And behold, the Lord stood above it and said: I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants. (14) “Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.
(So now we see the blessing being handed down to Jacob.) (15) Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; (Promise land?) for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.”
(16) Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it,” (17) And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! THIS IS NON OTHER THAN THE HOUSE OF GOD, and this the gate of heaven!” (18) Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me, and keep me in this way that I am going, and give me bread to eat, (the living bread?) and clothing to put on, (robe of righteousness?) (21) So that I come back to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall by my God. (22) “And this stone which I have set as a pillar shall be God’s house, and of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You.”
I find this Scriptures interesting in 1 Timothy 3:15—but if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. Now in light of this let’s look at 1 Peter 2:4—Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, (5) you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. (6) Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture, “Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.” (7) Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, “The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.” (9) But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; (10) who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.
Isaiah 43:1—But now, thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; You are Mine. (5) Fear not, for I am with you; I will bring your descendants from the east, and gather you from the west; (6) I will say to the north, Give them up! And to the south, ‘Do not keep them back!’ Bring My sons from afar, and My daughters FROM THE ENDS OF THE EARTH—(7) Everyone who is called by My name, whom I have created for My glory; I have formed him, yes, I have made him.” Isaiah 44:1—“Yet hear now, O Jacob My servant, and Israel whom I have chosen. (2) Thus says the Lord who made you and formed you from the womb, who will help you: ‘Fear not, O Jacob My servant; and you, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen. (3) For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, and floods on the dry ground; I will pour My Spirit on your descendants, and My blessing on your offspring;
God’s Covenant:
(7) He is the Lord our God; His judgments are in all the earth. (8) He remembers His covenant forever, the word which He commanded, for a thousand generations, (9) The covenant which He made with Abraham and His oath to Isaac, (10) And confirmed it to Jacob for a statute, To Israel as an everlasting covenant. Psalm 25:10—All the paths of the Lord are MERCY and TRUTH, to such as keep His covenant and His testimonies, (12) Who is the man that fears the Lord? Him shall He teach IN THE WAY HE CHOOSES, (13) He himself shall dwell in prosperity, and his descendants shall inherit the earth. (14) THE SECRET of the Lord is with those who fear Him, and He will show them His covenant. Isaiah 42:6—“I, the Lord, have called You in righteousness, and will hold Your hand; I will keep You and give You as a covenant to the people, AS A LIGHT TO THE GENTILES, (7) To open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the prison, those who sit in darkness from the prison house. (9) Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them.” (Isaiah 49:5—“And now the Lord says, who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant, to bring Jacob back to Him, so that Israel is gathered to Him. (6) Indeed He says, ‘It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also give You AS A LIGHT TO THE GENTILES, that You should be my salvation to the ends of the earth.” (8) Thus say the Lord: In an ACCEPTALBLE TIME I have heard You, and in the day of salvation I have helped You; I will preserve You and give You as a covenant to the people, TO RESTORE THE EARTH, to cause them TO INHERIT the desolate heritages; (9) That You may say to the prisoners, Go forth,’ To those who are in darkness, Show yourselves.’
Let’s listen to the words of Mary as her soul is magnifying the Lord. Luke 1:51—He has shown strength with His arm; He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. (54) He has helped His servant Israel, in remembrance of His mercy, (55) As He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed forever.” Let’s listen to the words of Zacharias, prophesying while being filled with the Holy Spirit: Luke 1:72—To perform the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember His holy covenant, (73) the oath which He swore to our father Abraham:
What God swore to Abraham:
Genesis 22:15—Then the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, (16) and said: “By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son—(18) “In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” This follows over into the New Testament where we read this in Galatians 3:8—And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the nations by faith, preached THE GOSPEL to Abraham beforehand, saying, “In you all the nations shall be blessed.”
Why the Jews could not attain this blessing:
No matter how diligently they sought to obtain this blessing it could only come through Christ to the Gentiles. Galatians 3:13—Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (14) that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Romans 4:13—For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. Galatians 3:23—But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. (24) Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. (25) But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.
The children of promise:
Galatians 4:21—Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? (22) For it is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, the other by a freewoman. (Sarah) (23) But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the freewoman THROUGH PROMISE, (24) which things are symbolic. For these are the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar—(25) for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children—(26) but the Jerusalem above is free, (Sarah) which is the mother of us all. (28) Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children OF PROMISE. (29) But, as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, even so it is now. John 1:11—He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. (12)But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: (13) who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. (14) And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. (18) No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.
Psalm 2:6—“Yet I have set My King on My holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree: the Lord has said to Me, (7) You are My Son, Today I have begotten You. (8) Ask of Me, and I will give You the nations for Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Your possession.” Ps. 87:5—And of Zion it will be said, “This one and that one were born in her; and the Most High Himself shall establish her.” (6) The Lord will record, when He registers the peoples; “This one was born there.”
We too have a birthright, are we going to be an Esau whom God hated or a Jacob, who is going to go after it with all of his might? Hebrews 12:16—Lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright. Psalm 24:3—Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who may stand in His holy place? (6) This is Jacob, the generation of those who seek Him, who seek Your face. Ps.111:6—He has declared to His people the power of His works, in giving them the heritage of the nations.
Psalm 48:9—We have thought, O God, on Your lovingkindness, in the midst of Your temple. (10) According to Your name, O God, So is Your praise to the ends of the earth; Your right hand is full of righteousness. (11) Let Mount Zion rejoice, Let the daughters of Judah be glad, because of Your judgments. (12) Walk about Zion, and go all around her. Count her towers; (13) Mark well her bulwarks; consider her palaces; that you may tell it to the generation following (14) For this is God, Our God forever and ever; He will be our guide even to death.
Isaiah 62:11—Indeed the Lord has proclaimed TO THE END OF THE WORLD; “Say to the daughter of Zion, surely your salvation is coming; Behold, His reward is
with Him, and His work before Him.”
Job 36:20—DO NOT DESIRE THE NIGHT, WHEN PEOPLE ARE CUT OFF IN THEIR PLACE.
Isaiah 45:19—I did not say to the seed of Jacob, ‘Seek Me in vain’; I, the Lord speak righteousness, I declare things that are right. (21) Tell and bring forth your case; Yes, let them take counsel together. Who has declared this from ancient time? Have not I, the Lord? And there is no other God besides Me, a just God and a Savior; There is none besides Me. (22) “Look to Me, and be saved, all you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. Ps. 22:27—All the ends of the world shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship before You. (28) For the kingdom is the Lord’s and He rules over the nations.
Ps. 59:13—And let them know that God rules in Jacob to the ends of the earth.
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