TODAY’S SCRIPTURE
I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you. Genesis 12:2-3
Read: Genesis 12:1-7
Listen: Genesis 12
TODAY’S MESSAGE
God appears to Abram (later called Abraham) with bold promises of making him a great nation and an immense blessing. Abraham follows God on this adventure. Years later and still childless, Abraham brings his doubts to God. He wonders how God will make him a great nation, and God reaffirms the promise of descendants as numerous as the stars (Genesis 15:5). Abraham believes God but still wonders how he can be confident God will give him the promised land.
God then instructs Abraham to bring animals. Abraham knows God is making a covenant. This covenant, common to the day, creates a binding agreement between unequal parties. God holds all the power, and Abraham none. Usually, the weaker party walks through the cut animals and blood to remind them what happens to them if they don’t keep their end. Yet God turns the covenant upside down and walks through, symbolizing God will take the punishment if Abraham doesn’t uphold his end.
The picture God gives Abraham in the Old Testament is what Jesus does for us in the New Testament. God knows we could never uphold our end of the agreement. We could never be good enough to come before God. Jesus shed his blood on our behalf. He takes the punishment that should have been ours. Jesus perfectly fulfills the promise made to Abraham. Through Jesus and his blood, blessing comes to the whole world. Our relationship with God isn’t dependent on what we do but on what he did for us. Watch this video clip as Pastor Aaron Buer shares God’s incredible self-sacrifice.
IN YOUR CHAIR TIME TODAY
Thank God for forgiving your sins through Jesus, who took the punishment on your behalf. If you’ve never accepted God’s gift of salvation through Jesus, please email us at btw@adabible.org. We’d love to have a conversation with you.
2022 BIBLE MEMORY PRACTICE
Develop spiritual roots and tap in the power of God’s word by memorizing monthly a Bible verse! View previous verses at beyondtheweekend.org/biblememorypractice.
MATTHEW 22:37-39
Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
Download a printable PDF of the BTW week here.
