Messages for
October 2017: Our Month of THE BLESSING
Message for Sunday 29th
October, 2017
Theme: Walking in the Footsteps of Abraham
Topic: Abraham the priest and the prophet Pt.2
Introduction: Last
week, we began to conclude our theme for this month with this very interesting
topic looking at the priestly and the prophetic roles played by our father
Abraham. We established among other things that an observation of Abraham’s
lifestyle discloses to us that he was a priest of God and he proved that by
habitually raising altars to God everywhere he found himself.
We further related this to the high priesthood of the Lord Jesus Christ
who has by his sacrifice made us priests and kings to the Lord our God. We also
saw that whereas the priests of the time of Abraham used animal sacrifices, now
we depend on the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ who obtained eternal
redemption for us once; at this end of time. [Heb.9:12-15]
Today, we shall be looking at Abraham the prophet. I believe this will
also bless us as seeing him as a priest did.
Abraham the Prophet: The first time I saw Abraham referred to as a prophet in the bible, it
came from the mouth of God. In Genesis 20:7, we read: “Now restore the man his wife; for he is a prophet, and he shall pray
for thee, and thou shalt live: and if thou restore her not, know thou that thou
shalt surely die, thou, and all that are thine.” The implication of this was that Abraham
was not just a prophet because he could prophesy, but because he was standing
in the office of a prophet from God’s view point.
Who then is a prophet? According to the Farlex dictionary for IPad, a prophet is one inspired
by God to speak in his name or announce future events as Moses, Elijah etc. in
other words, a prophet is someone who speaks by divine inspiration. The best
person to tell you who a prophet is however, is God. In the text quoted above,
God called Abraham a prophet. However, in another place where we hear God
define who a prophet is in the bible, we find Amos giving us another definition
of a prophet in Amos 3:7. Amos says it this way: surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secrets unto
his servants the prophets. This in other words mean prophets are God’s
confidants who serve Him. We can therefore list out who a prophet is as
follows:
1. A servant of God who is usually inspired by God to speak on His behalf. This aptly describes Abraham. His service
rendered to strangers which unknown to him were angels in Genesis 17 paints a
clear picture of this. He offered them lodging and to wash their feet and feed
them. This fetched him the manifestation of his desired miracle of a son by his
own wife even when it was thought to be too late for them. This kind of act was
encouraged by the Apostle Paul while promoting good works in Heb.13:2.
2. A friend of God: Prophets
are usually friends of God. Just like a friend confides in his friend before
doing anything, so does God with Abraham. In Gen.19:18, God asked
himself if he could hide what He was about to do from Abraham seeing that
Abraham was going to pass on the legacy to subsequent generations. The idea of
Abraham being a friend of God was actually communicated to us by God Himself
through the prophet Isaiah in Isa.41:8. In Amos 3:7 we are made
to understand the principle of friendship with God by the prophet when he said
the Lord will do nothing except He first reveals it to His servants the
prophets.
3. God’s confidant: A confidant is one to whom secrets are disclosed. It is someone to whom
private matters are confided. God saw to it the He disclosed so many private
matters to Abraham knowing he could count on him. Many of the things God told
Abraham were not recorded in the Torah but the Lord gave us a clue when He said
that Abraham rejoiced to see his day and saw it and was glad. Jn.8:56
4. One who forth tells and foretells on God’s behalf: To forth tell is to simply speak on behalf of
someone whereas to fore tell is to speak of future things to come. Abraham did
both. At a point, when Abimelech tried to marry Abraham’s wife for her beauty
thinking she was just his sister, he was led to pray for him as God’s prophet
to avert the wrath of God from befalling the house of Abimelech. He did this and
the wrath of God was averted. See Gen.20:7
5. They are the eagle wings of God. During the time of Moses, God used this term to describe the ministry
of Moses to the children of Israel. Then we could picture Moses as the eagle
God used to carry the children of Israel out of the land of bondage just like
Christ was to come and rescue us from the bondage of Satan through His
sacrifice on Calvary. See Ex.19:4 and Num.11:11-14. In the same way Abraham was
an eagle to his household and to subsequent generations after him when he
received the call of God and was told that through his offspring shall all
nations on earth be blessed. See Gen.12:1-4; 18:19 and Gal.3:9, 16. In his
lifetime, Abraham demonstrated his eagle nature as a prophet when he routed
four nations to rescue his Nephew Lot from captivity with an army of three
hundred men trained in his household. See Genesis 14.
6. They play the role of spiritual fathers in the Church. Just like fathers are the beginning of
families, so are Apostles and prophets in the New Testaments ordained by God to
pioneer ministries and Churches. This is why in the Old Testament for instance,
their protégées refer to them as “my father”. Indisputably, Abraham pioneered a
new breed of people whom God separated to Himself as holy unto Him. This is why
for all eternity and time after him, he would be known as the father of many
nations. See Rm.4:17-18; Eph.2:20; Rev.21:14; 2Kings 2:12 and 2Kgs.13:14.
7. In the New Testament Church, prophets are foundation layers like Apostles. The difference is that the prophets may not be
engraced to operate in all the fivefold ministry offices like the apostles who
can flow in all five. From the story of Abraham, it is clear that he laid the
foundation for a new dispensation out of which the Church was eventually born.
Abraham as a prophet was actually instrumental in the hands of God to lay the
foundation of God’s chosen people from where the Messiah of the human race was
to be born into this world and the rest is history. See Gen.12:1-4; Gal.3:9,
13-14 and 16 and Gal.3:29.
8. Prophets herald the moves of God and are usually part of it depending on their level of sensitivity. Undisputedly,
Abraham heralded God’s move to keep his promise to Adam that the seed of the
woman shall bruise the head of the serpent. This explains the persecution of
the descendants of Abraham who were custodians of the promise of God to Abraham
over the years. All the time in history when kings like Pharaoh and Herod were
used to murder the male children form the lineage of Abraham, it is because the
devil was looking for the Messiah to kill. He did it to stop Moses but failed
and he also repeated his failure when he tried to stop the Lord Jesus Christ by
Herod when the Lord was born. See Gen.12:1-4; Ex.1:22 and Mt.2:16-20.
The proof of an authentic prophet was seen in the life of Abraham. In the
book of Deuteronomy
1. If a prophet speaks on
behalf of God, whatever
he says comes to pass. This was the case with Abraham. In Deu.18:21-22, the
great Prophet Moses gives us this clue to watch out for in determining who a
true prophet is. Abraham disclosed that God called him to go to an unknown
location which later turned out to be Canaan and the Lord confirmed it. When he
was 99 years, the Lord told him he was going to have a son the next year by his
89year old wife and it was so. See Gen.17 and 21.
2. Prophets live their
lives to glorify God. This was the case of Abraham who lived his life to glorify God. A
person can be said to live their lives to glorify God when they put the
interest of God above themselves. First when he was told to go to an unknown
land, he went without question because God’s will was more important to him
than his personal interest. Every time God told him to do anything, he was
prompt to obey with delight. For instance when God commanded him to raise an
altar to him and bring him some sacrifices in Genesis 15, Abraham obeyed to the
letter without questions asked and God appeared to him and made a covenant with
him that transcended his generation. Everything Abraham did pointed others back
to God which is the hallmark of a true prophet of God. Hear prophet Moses:
“And if thou say in thine heart,
How shall we know the word which the Lord hath not spoken?
When the prophet speaketh in
the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the
thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it
presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.” Deu.18:21-22.
Also, in Deu.13:1-2, Moses gives us the key for assessing the
authenticity of a true prophet and dreamer of dreams. He said that if such a
person now tries to guide you to seek the help of other gods, you shall not
follow them because they are not of the Lord. This is the reason for the
practice of Spiritism around. By the way Spiritism is the art of accessing the
spirit realm for solution or to get things done illegally. To access the spirit
realm illegally is to get into the spirit realm any other way than God’s way of
doing so. Abraham never did this.
As we round off this series this month, I want to believe that we have
learnt so much to copy from the life of Abraham that we would be among those
who would make the sacrifices of Abraham and the Lord worth the effort. Someone
reading this may be thinking that they cannot say this with confidence as they
are yet to receive the salvation brought us by the Lord Jesus Christ. It is not
too late for you now; you can do so right away by saying the following prayer
out loud in faith and you will be saved:
Heavenly Father,
Have mercy on me a sinner. Today, I believe that Jesus
died for me and you raised Him from the dead for my Justification. I therefore
declare that Jesus Christ is my Saviour and Lord and from today, I renounce the
fatherhood of Satan and embrace Jesus Christ as my Saviour and Lord. Thank you
for this father in Jesus’ name! Amen.
Congratulations! For more information and resources that would help you
grow in this new life, please visit our website at www.kingdomheirsministries.org and our blogs at www.flourishinggirl.blogspot.com and follow us on twitter at alero_nanna and on face book on www.facebook.com/flourishinggirl www.facebook.com/khmii2015; www.facebook.com/thewellbeingcenter. Or www.facebook.com/kingdomjointheirsfamily email: jointheirsfamily@gmail.com.
