Welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Genesis. Tonight, is study #24 of Genesis, chapter 15 and we are going to read Genesis 15:13-14:

And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.

Now I know we have covered these verses and after the last Bible study I was planning to move on to Genesis, chapter 16, but I reconsidered because I happened to be reading in Acts, chapter 7. After reading those verses, I realized there was an area of understanding that we did not cover that well, so in this study I just want to correct that and make sure we discuss it before we move on. Lord willing, in our next study we will move on, but it says in Acts 7:6-7:

And God spake on this wise, That his seed should sojourn in a strange land; and that they should bring them into bondage, and entreat them evil four hundred years. And the nation to whom they shall be in bondage will I judge, said God: and after that shall they come forth, and serve me in this place.

Clearly, Acts 7 is picking up the scriptures we are reading Genesis 15. God mentions the period of bondage and the people being entreated evil (afflicted) four hundred years and then He speaks of judging that nation to whom they were in bondage. In Genesis 15, God pointed out that the physical seed of Abram would “serve them.” And that was said twice. Here, in Acts 7, it says that after four hundred years they would come forth “and serve me in this place.” And that is the part I did not notice or comment on as we went through these verses in Genesis 15. The emphasis of God is on serving God after having served as bondservants to the Egyptians, historically; and, spiritually, the emphasis is on serving God after having served the world and Satan, spiritually. There will be a period of time when the people of God are delivered in order to serve God “in this place.” (We will look at what is in view with the language of “in this place” in a moment.)

First, let us look at something in the last book of the Old Testament, in Malachi 3:17:

And they shall be mine, saith JEHOVAH of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels…

The Hebrew word translated as “jewels” is translated as “peculiar treasure” in other places. Again, it says in Malachi 3:17-18:

And they shall be mine, saith JEHOVAH of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.

Here, God is indicating that it is service to the Lord that determines whether one is righteous or wicked. The righteous serve God and the wicked serve Him not. We are presently in the Day of Judgment, in which God has brought both the righteous and the wicked before the judgment throne. (There are several verses that emphasize this fact.) The reason is to make a judgment or determination whether they are righteous or wicked or innocent or guilty. All the righteous will demonstrate their righteousness (that they did become saved by the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ) through their performing service to God. They serve God and to serve God means they obey Him and keep His commandments throughout the Day of Judgment, thereby demonstrating their righteousness during this time.

On the other hand, the wicked will not serve God and in so doing they will prove their wickedness – they will show forth that they are wicked and deserving of the wrath of God and the punishment being poured out upon them. In the verses we read in Acts 7, God said that after He delivered His people after the 400 years, then He would judge that nation that had oppressed them and then God said, “and after that shall they come forth, and serve me in this place.” After the deliverance and after the judgment, there is a period of time in which service to God is to be performed.

From time to time, we have looked at a couple of verses in Luke, chapter 17, where it says in Luke 17:7-10:

But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat? And will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink? Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not. So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.

The interesting thing about this passage is that the servant was busy plowing or feeding cattle and he came in from the field. Remember the definition that Christ provided for the “field” in another parable in Matthew, chapter 13. The “field” is the world. The servant had done his duty in the area of feeding and plowing, which are things that have to do with sharing the Gospel; it was done in the “field,” so it was done in the world. Then it said in verse 10, “So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you.” So, when he had completed this one duty, he came in to his Master (who is God) and did His Master tell the servant to go sit down and eat immediately? No – further service was required by His Master: “Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me.” So, there was additional service required and that is what we have learned recently. After our prior service of evangelization and getting out the Gospel so that the elect out in the world could hear and become saved (“after you have done the will of God,” as it says in Hebrews 10:36), then there is another level of service that we learned about only after we completed the first task. We learned this primarily through the interesting passage in John, chapter 21 after the great catch of fish was brought in and the disciples brought the fish to land to Christ. It is just like coming in from the field in this parable in Luke 17 and, yet, there was further work to do, as Jesus proceeded to lay out when He gave the command three times, “Feed my sheep.” This second service to God was distinct from the first because it had to do with those that were already saved and, yet, it was similar because it would still involve sharing the truths of the Word of God to spiritually nourish those God had saved out of the world.

So, we are very interested in God saying that there is service due to Him after a great deliverance, as illustrated by the exodus from Egypt and by May 21, 2011 and God’s completion of His salvation program and after He judges “that nation,” the Egyptians, in the first instance, and the unsaved inhabitants of the earth, in the second instance.

Remember, it says in Acts 7:7:

… and serve me in this place.

If we go back to Exodus 3, it says in Exodus 3:12:

And he said, Certainly I will be with thee; and this shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee: When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain.

The reference to “this mountain” is to mount Horeb, as it tells us in Exodus 3, verse 1. After they were brought out of Egypt, they were to “serve God upon this mountain.” The name “Horeb” is Strong’s #2722 and it comes from Strong’s #2717 and #2717 is a word that means “desolate” or “destroy” or “dry” or “waste.” When you look up this word, it is a word that identifies with God’s judgment on the corporate church when He made them a wasteland or desolate place. It is a word that also identifies with God’s judgment on the world and it is used in Isaiah, chapter 34 in verses 9 through 11, where the world that is under judgment is called a “waste” land. That is this word that is related to “Horeb” and, therefore, Horeb identifies with the time of the end of the world in which God has made desolate the churches. After the Tribulation period of 23 years, that judgment transitioned to make the entire world a “waste” place or dry place where there is no water of the Gospel to save anyone. It was Horeb that after the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt God told Moses to bring His people to serve God upon that mountain; or, to do service to God in the time of desolation, the time of the end time judgment that would begin at the house of God and then expand to all the unsaved people of the earth. This is what God has in view with this language.

We do not have time, but we could look at many other verses where we find the “mountain” burned with fire. Mount Horeb was a place where God gave His Word. The language of “burning” and “fire” and “smoke” identify with that mountain and it also ties in with Judgment Day. Again, the final judgment began at the house of God and that is what God said. Judgment began at the house of God or the corporate church, so when we think of the final judgment, we should not think of May 21, 2011 as the beginning point, but May 21, 1988 and, especially, 1994, which was a very significant transition point. So, the final judgment is performed over several years at the end of the world.

I am trying to rush because we do not have too much time and we have covered these verses, so I just wanted to share a couple of things and make you aware of them and then we will move on.

Remember, it was God’s constant refrain through Moses to declare to Pharaoh to let His people go. It says in Exodus 8:1:

And JEHOVAH spake unto Moses, Go unto Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith JEHOVAH, Let my people go, that they may serve me.

And what was the reason? It was that “they may serve me,” and this is repeated, again, and again. It says in Exodus 8:20:

And JEHOVAH said unto Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh; lo, he cometh forth to the water; and say unto him, Thus saith JEHOVAH, Let my people go, that they may serve me.

It says in Exodus 9:1:

Then JEHOVAH said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh, and tell him, Thus saith JEHOVAH God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me.

Then God gives another warning and it says at the end of the verse in Exodus 9:13:

… Let my people go, that they may serve me.

This was reiterated and reiterated to Pharaoh, a type and figure of Satan. Basically, we can compare this to God’s command to Satan, who ruled over the kingdom of darkness of this world, to let His people (the elect) go that they may serve Him. Of course, Satan would not let them go. When the corporate church came under the power of Satan and, thereby, became “Egypt” God commanded His people to depart out of the midst that we might serve Him, but Satan would not let God’s people go but fought against Him at every turn. However, God drew His people out of the churches and, finally, all the elect of God went out into the world, a place that is more often typified as “Babylon” or “Egypt,” but the same thing happened there with the elect that had not yet experienced salvation through the hearing of the Word of God. God said, “Let my people go,” and the response of Satan was always in the negative as he desperately tried to hold them. Finally, at the end God sent forth His Word by way of the broadcast medium through the news and billboards, and so forth, and through the hearing of the Word of God the elect were delivered and set free by May 21, 2011. Going back to 1994, the Jubilee year, God had begun to stretch forth His hand the second time to recover the remnant of His people and by May 21, 2011 all the elect of God had come out of Egypt, spiritually, and they were freed from Satan’s rule and hard bondage and they came out to serve God.

It says in Exodus 7:16:

And thou shalt say unto him, JEHOVAH God of the Hebrews hath sent me unto thee, saying, Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness: and, behold, hitherto thou wouldest not hear.

I think this is important. The service done to God was not really to have been accomplished in the land of Canaan. It does not say that. It specifically says, “Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness.” In other words, His people were to serve Him in that “in between” period during the wilderness sojourn before they entered into the land of Canaan, the Promised Land. God already had it planned and solidly settled in His mind that His people would serve Him in the wilderness; that is, from the coming out of Egypt in the year 1447BC, the people of Israel would do service to God for 40 years, until 1407BC. Then, finally, they would cross Jordan and enter the land of Canaan. This agrees with the timeline that we find coming to light at the time of the end. If we go 40 years from the year 1994, which relates to the coming out of Egypt in the sense that it was a Jubilee year and the beginning of the Latter Rain that would free the captives, we reach the year 2033, inclusively. So, this is a very interesting and important point the Bible is making when it says that God was to be served for 40 years prior to entering into Canaan, which spiritually represents the Promised Land of the new heaven and new earth.

We could look at Revelation 7, but we do not have time for that, but look at verses 13 through 15, as it refers to the great multitude that came out of Great Tribulation. It says in Revelation 7:15:

Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple…

The term “day and night” is a time reference. This great multitude has come out of Great Tribulation, which would relate to May 21, 2011 and, yet, there was a time of continuing to serve God “day and night,” just as the people of God are continuing to serve God now.

It says in John 12:26:

If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.

The first part of the verse says, “If any man serve me, let him follow me.” In John 21, Jesus commanded Peter to feed His sheep three times to indicate the purpose of God for “these days after that tribulation.” Then it was said in John 21:18:

Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old…

Two periods of time are referred to here with the use of the words “young” and “old,” with the first time period referring to the time when the day of salvation was still in effect and the other referring to when the Gospel light has been extinguished in the Day of Judgment. (We do not have time to prove that.) Then it goes on to say in John 21:18-19:

…thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me.

He said, “Follow me,” and what did Jesus say in John 12, verse 26? He said, “If any man serve me, let him follow me.” You see, God is conditioning this time period as a time when service to the Lord is to be performed. We are to follow Christ by following the Word of God and, in doing so, we will be following the pattern of His crucifixion, as it were, and we will be doing service.