Welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible Part in the Book of Genesis. Tonight is Part #6 of Genesis, chapter 17 and we will read Genesis 17:5-8:

Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee. And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee. And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.

I will stop reading there. I would like to mention one thing that I did not mention earlier and that has to do with the number “13.” We spent some time looking at the 13-year period from the end of chapter 16, where we were told in the last verse that Abram was 86 when Ishmael was born.

Starting in Genesis 17, verse 1 Abram is now 99, so God is letting it be known that 13 years had passed before He began to discuss these very important details we will read about in Genesis, chapter 17. This is a major historical milestone year. It is the year 2068 B.C. and it is extremely important in the history of Israel and in God’s entire salvation program. In additional to the emphasis on 13 years, we also noticed that God used the word “covenant” 13 times. The covenant identifies with the Word of God, the Bible. It is the Gospel. It is the covenant that would come to the forefront, especially after 13,000 years of history at the time of the end in which we are currently living.

Regarding this year 2068 B.C., God did come to Abraham and let him know that Sarah would have the promised son the next year when he was 100 years old. The year 2068 B.C. was also the year that God would destroy Sodom and Gomorrah and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah points to Judgment Day, which takes place after 13,000 years of earth’s history is reached.

So, when we look at this year 2068 B.C., we wonder if it is a time path and where does it lead? We find that it does lead us to the year 2033 A.D., which would be 4,100 years later. This is an interesting number that breaks down to “10 x 10 x 41,” but it more strongly points us to the year 1988 A.D. If we add 2068 to 1988, we get 4,056 calendar years, which breaks down to “2 x 12 x 13 x 13.” The number “13” is doubled in this timeline, so this adds additional confirmation to the point of emphasis concerning the number “13” as it relates to the end of the world or the number “13” and the events that are taking place in Genesis 17.

I just wanted to make sure we talked about this and it will be in view as we look at these things.

Okay, let us go to Genesis 17:5:

Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.

Abraham’s name means “father of a multitude.” We spent some time looking at the word translated as “nations,” which is the Hebrew word “go-ee.” God has made Abraham a father of many nations or “Gentiles” and God is pointing to the salvation of people from all nations, tribes and tongues that would be counted for the seed in Christ. Christ has saved people from all over the world. Remember when the Lord revealed the vision to Peter of “unclean animals” and He commanded Peter to rise, slay and eat. Peter refused and said, “Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean.” Peter said this because God had recorded in Leviticus and Deuteronomy His laws against eating these kinds of animals, so this was received by Peter as a contradiction: “How can God command me to eat unclean animals when He has commanded me not to eat unclean animals?” And, yet, God speaks of “cleansing” these animals in Acts 10:13-16:

And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill, and eat. But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean. And the voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common. This was done thrice: and the vessel was received up again into heaven.

We can see the purpose of God in showing these things to Peter three times. Peter and the number “3” are often connected. Three times he denied the Lord. Three times Christ asked, “Lovest thou me?” Three times Peter answered, “Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee.” And three times Christ responded, “Feed my sheep.” It emphasizes the purpose of God.

Now the Lord was showing Peter this vision of unclean animals and commanding him to eat them. Peter refused and the Lord rebuked him: “What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.” This is an important Biblical principal and that is that God is in control of His Gospel program. God is in control of truth. God is in control of the times and seasons when doctrine is applicable or when the same doctrine is no longer applicable; that is, in certain times and seasons, God would command one thing, but if people attempt to follow that command “out of season,” then they are in rebellion against God. God can change His program according to times and seasons. For example, the Old Testament Jews were to offer sacrifice. They were to go to Jerusalem three times a year during the feasts. Although that is what a faithful Jew would have done in Old Testament times, God ended the sacrificial system and He ended the observance of certain ceremonial laws and feast days upon the coming of Christ. And anyone attempting to offer sacrifices on the New Testament side of the cross would be in rebellion against God. God said that the ceremonial law of the seventh day Sabbath was to be observed and faithful men and women would have observed it for over 11,000 years, until Christ went to the cross and rose again that Sunday morning. Then God said, “In the end of the sabbaths as it began to dawn toward the first of the sabbaths.” He changed the Sabbath Day. Now anyone attempting to be faithful and holy by keeping that doctrine of the seventh day Sabbath, which was Saturday, is doing wrong. They are doing evil. They are doing something that goes completely contrary to the commandment of God because it is no longer to be observed. The New Testament faithful believer would worship God on Sunday, the first day of the week and no longer on Saturday, the seventh day.

God can make these changes and one of the changes He made and stressed in Acts, chapter 10 was that He was no longer restricting the diet of the believers. Now He said we could eat animals like pigs or lobsters or any unclean animal that was on that “sheet.” God corrected Peter and showed him that he was not in control of God’s Word and God’s program of times and seasons for the outworking of events. Peter, as a child of God, must follow God’s commandments. I am speaking as if the Lord is speaking: “If I make a change in doctrine from the Saturday Sabbath to the Sunday Sabbath or from offering sacrifices to no longer offering sacrifices or from requiring you to go to Jerusalem three times a year to no longer being requiring you to go to Jerusalem three times a year; or, if I make a change in the very food that once commanded you not to eat and I tell you that now you can eat it, then you are not to fight against it. You are not to resist it. That is my will. I am God. You are not God. You are not the determiner. You are not the one that orders what is true and faithful and what is proper holiness or the commandments that must be observed. That is not for you, Peter, or for any man to dictate what must be done or what must not be done, just because you are accustomed to doing it a certain way for centuries.”

When a certain point is reached and a “time and season” has elapsed and a new “time and season” comes to pass, then God determines what things are right and what things are no longer necessary. We saw this happen in our time at the time of the end when God opened the scriptures to reveal that the church age was over. The church age was over and God’s elect would have been a Part of it for almost 1,955 years and they would have gone to church and submitted to church authority and they would have observed the ceremonial laws of baptism and the Lord’s Table, and so forth. And, yet, all of a sudden God opened the Bible to reveal truth that had long been sealed up. The proper point in time had come. The early rain, the gathering of the firstfruits during the church age, had concluded. God had a change of program. Now He was saying, in effect, “My people, you are no longer to go to the churches. You are no longer to seek baptism for your children because that was a ceremonial law given to the churches, which was overseen by pastors, elders and deacons. But now they have no oversight. You are no longer to Partake of the Lord’s Table.” These were major doctrinal changes and God was the one who was the determiner of these things. There are many professed Christians that think they are being holy and faithful to the “faith once delivered to the saints.” Actually, they do not even understand that statement because the “faith once delivered to the saints” is not the traditions of the church, but it is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the faith once delivered to (or for the sake of) the saints. And, yet, most in the churches and congregations resisted and they said, in effect, “Not so, Lord.” They thought they were speaking to “men” like Mr. Camping and others that brought this information. However, the Bible lays down another principal. When God’s people carry a message from God, anyone that rebels against that message is rebelling against God. So, for all intents and purposes, they were rebelling against God. “We have always gone to church on Sundays. We have always baptized our children. We have always Partaken of the Lord’s Table. Not so, Lord, this cannot be.”

And, yet, the answer is the same that God told Peter: “What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.” Do not think you know more than God or that you are holier than God. You are not the determiner of what is right and true and faithful or what is none of those things. We are mere men and we do not know anything until God tells us and He tells us through His Word, the Bible, just like He told Peter in Acts, chapter 10: “Rise, Peter; kill, and eat.” Why did God tell Peter to eat the unclean animals? Why was God showing him this vision three times? It was because there was a change in program and it had to do with the Gentiles, the people of the nations of the world that had previously been deemed as “unclean.” For His own purposes, God had concentrated on national Israel for that long season of the Old Testament as He brought forth His Word. Israel was the caretaker of the Oracles of God and the prophets were Israelites and God moved these holy men of old to scribe the Old Testament. God had many reasons for dealing exclusively with Israel, although He had let it be known that He would save Gentiles in a future time. He also let it be known that Gentiles could be saved when He saved Rahab the harlot, Ruth the Moabitess and Naaman the Syrian and, of course, the great multitude in Nineveh when Jonah was sent there. And, yet, overall, God mostly dealt with Israel. But then God was going to have people that were not just from one nation, but they would be spread across all the nations as churches were established in all the nations of the world. The Lord is letting that be known and He will do it in various ways. He revealed this mystery to the Apostle Paul, in Ephesians 3, as well as when He showed this vision to Peter three times and it goes on to say in Acts 10:17:

Now while Peter doubted in himself what this vision which he had seen should mean, behold, the men which were sent from Cornelius had made enquiry for Simon’s house, and stood before the gate,

How many men were sent by Cornelius? There were three, pointing to God’s purpose. They asked for Peter and then it said in Acts 10:19-22:

While Peter thought on the vision, the Spirit said unto him, Behold, three men seek thee. Arise therefore, and get thee down, and go with them, doubting nothing: for I have sent them. Then Peter went down to the men which were sent unto him from Cornelius; and said, Behold, I am he whom ye seek: what is the cause wherefore ye are come? And they said, Cornelius the centurion, a just man, and one that feareth God, and of good report among all the nation of the Jews, was warned from God by an holy angel to send for thee into his house, and to hear words of thee.

Peter went with them to Cornelius’ house and it says in Acts 10:33-37:

Immediately therefore I sent to thee; and thou hast well done that thou art come. Now therefore are we all here present before God, to hear all things that are commanded thee of God. Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him. The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ: (he is Lord of all:) That word, I say, ye know, which was published throughout all Judaea, and began from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached;

Then Peter began to relate some of the Gospel to Cornelius and his household. It says in Acts 10:43-48:

To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins. While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word. And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God. Then answered Peter, Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we? And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then prayed they him to tarry certain days.

It was an inconceivable event to the Jews, but they witnessed it with their own eyes – God was saving Gentiles as well as Jews. This was the act of God confirming that the Gentiles would be fellowheirs with the Jews.

Again, we see the number “3” and we also see the number “3” in regard to Peter in John, chapter 21 as God made another great change in program with the “second great commission” to send His people into the world – not to find the house of Israel, but to feed the sheep that had already been saved. These things are not to be spoken against. They are not to be disputed. God has His programs.

Lord willing, in our next study we are going to look at an interesting verse in 1Timothy, chapter 4 where in the first few verses we will read of the Holy Spirit speaking in the latter times and, yet, some are forbidding to marry and commanding to “abstain from meats” which God created to be received with thanksgiving. We will see how that relates to the “meats” that Peter was commanded to eat and those “meats” had to do with a doctrinal change regarding the Gentiles being fellowheirs. But in 1Timothy, chapter 4 it has to do with the latter days in our own time period. We will look at that interesting passage in our next Bible study.