Welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Genesis. Tonight is study #7 of Genesis, chapter 20. We are continuing to look at this passage regarding Sarah being taken by King Abimelech. It says in Genesis 20:3-7:

But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, Behold, thou art but a dead man, for the woman which thou hast taken; for she is a man’s wife. But Abimelech had not come near her: and he said, Lord, wilt thou slay also a righteous nation? Said he not unto me, She is my sister? and she, even she herself said, He is my brother: in the integrity of my heart and innocency of my hands have I done this. And God said unto him in a dream, Yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart; for I also withheld thee from sinning against me: therefore suffered I thee not to touch her. Now therefore 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.

We have been carefully looking at this passage in the last couple of studies. We know there is a spiritual picture here. We know Abraham is being used as a type of God and Sarah is a picture of the elect believers that married to God through His salvation program. Sarah was taken a second time by a king of an enemy nation (the world). The first time she was taken by Pharaoh, King of Egypt, and the second time she was taken by Abimelech, King of Gerar, in the land of the Philistines. This is picturing Satan who takes the people of the world captive through their bondage to sin and to Satan. So, Sarah is a picture of the elect that were in captivity to sin and Satan, even though they were married to Christ. We spoke a little bit about the betrothal, wherein Christ died for specific people at the foundation of the world and, therefore, these people stand in a different relationship to God than the rest of the people of the world. God has a very special program for His elect. Therefore, God is coming a second time to deliver the captive (Sarah), who represents all the elect out in the world at the time of the Latter Rain when God extended His hand the second time to recover the remnant of His people. This happened during the second outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the second half of the Great Tribulation period. (It was not a literal “half” because the first and second part of this period were not evenly split.)

We looked at how King Abimelech said he had not come near to Sarah and how God agreed this was true because He had not suffered Abimelech to “touch” her. We saw how that related to 1John 5:18:

We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not.

So, God had a protective shield around His people, even while they were still in their sins. No ultimate harm could come to them before they became saved. Of course, after we become saved no ultimate harm can come to us because we have the safety of salvation. We are the recipients of God’s grace and we have the gift of eternal life, so God truly does not allow His spiritual bride to be “touched” by the wicked one. This is the reason why this King of Gerar in the land of the Philistines could not “touch” Sarah.

Now we want to look at this in another way. It is not so much a spiritual way of looking at it, although it has to do with a hidden truth, the “mystery of iniquity,” that is spoken of in the Bible. It is hidden knowledge and every bit of hidden knowledge is part of the mystery and it is parabolic in the sense that God has hidden it. The “mystery of iniquity” spoken of in the Bible has to do with the fact that mankind has been “desperately wicked” since the fall into sin soon after the beginning of this world. As a result, throughout the history of the world mankind has had this wickedness within them, according to Jeremiah 17:9:

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

Of course, God knows of it because it goes on to say in Jeremiah 17:10, “I JEHOVAH search the heart, I try the reins.” But insofar as man is concerned, no man can truly know his own heart nor the depths of depravity that lies within. I am not saying that man is “totally depraved.” That would go a bit too far because God has written His Law upon man’s heart and has given mankind a consciousness of sin. When the scribes and Pharisees were trying to entrap Christ by bringing a woman caught in adultery before Him, they asked Him, “Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?” It does say in the Law that an adulterer should be stoned to death, and they hoped get Jesus in trouble with the Romans authorities that would view it as insurrection; they would see it as Christ exercising authority He did not possess under Roman rule. That was one aspect of the trap. Or, if He said she was not to be stoned to death because they were under Roman rule, then the scribes and Pharisees could go to the Jewish people and say, “He does not keep the Law of Moses.” It was very sly. That is the nature of unsaved man because he has a very deceitful and wicked heart and he is wise to do evil in developing the snares and traps of men. Of course, Christ was infinitely wiser and instead of giving one position or another, He said, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” What happened? Let us read a little bit of this in John 8:5-6:

Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou? This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.

Now Jesus is God and He is the Word, so whatever He wrote (the Bible does not tell us) would have been the Law of God. It is probable that He was writing the commandments. We know that God wrote the commandments in stone with His own finger and, here, Jesus stooped down and wrote with His finger on the ground. Then it goes on to say in John 8:7-8:

So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground.

He was writing the Law of God. And what does the Law of God serve to do? One of the reasons God wrote the Law was to bring conviction to all men, as it says in Romans 3:19-20:

Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

The men that brought the adulteress woman before Christ were pointing the finger: “We caught her in adultery! Sinner, sinner, sinner!” Of course, whenever someone is pointing the finger, the saying goes: “When you point a finger at someone, there are three more pointing back at you.” It is just an expression, but it has some truth in it because we are all sinners: “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” The Bible also says, “There is none righteous, no, not one.” There are none good.

So, here were these men pointing their finger as if the woman was the only sinner and they were righteous. That was the nature of many of the Jews of that day who thought they were righteous through the keeping of the Law. One of the main points of Jesus’ ministry was to point out to them that they were no more righteous than anyone else. This was the reason Jesus would sit down to eat with known sinners, like harlots and tax collectors, and so forth. The Bible says that Christ did not come to call the righteous to repentance, which would be futile because none are righteous. But He came to call sinners to repentance.

Here, Jesus was writing the Law. Everything He would write or say would have been the Law of God. The purpose of the Law is to make the world guilty before God. It is the reason so many people in the world run from the Word of God, the Bible. They run, like a roach when the light is turned on – they run to a dark place. It is the nature of man to flee from the Light of the Word of God, because it makes them feel guilty. They do not like the fact that it shows them their own fallen condition. It shines the light on that desperately wicked and deceitful heart that is in them.

You know, man likes to think he is “basically good.” Just ask anyone. “Are you a good person?” Most will say, “Oh, yeah, I am basically good.” However, they lie, and they cheat and who knows what is going on in their minds? They are comparing themselves among themselves. The Bible says one is not wise in doing this. But they compare themselves to murderers, rapists and terrorists, and, by comparison, they say, “Well, I am a good person.” And, yet, the truth is that they are desperately wicked. You see, if you can get away from the Bible, you can maintain the façade that you are good, and everyone should like you. They all have a good laugh and they agree with one another that they are good persons. What a lie! It is not for mankind to pass the judgment that one is “good or evil.” It is for God to decide because God searches the heart. The Bible says, “Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.” It is only God that truly knows. We do not even know ourselves all that well and, yet, God looks within, and He sees all. And what He sees is not pleasant. What He sees, He wrote in the Bible, so the Bible is like a “mirror” to us, showing us our ugly reflection and our true heart condition.

Therefore, the people of the world close the Bible and put it on the shelf or get rid of it. Or, if they feel they must have a Bible, then they say, “Let us change it, so it is more flattering and kind toward me. Let us have a Bible that says I can do something concerning my salvation. Let us have a Bible that is more accepting of people – more inclusive and more diverse, and so forth.” Man distorts, perverts and changes the Bible until the offensiveness of the truth of the Word of God is covered up. They even change the very words of the Bible to make the Word of God say what they want it to say, as they try to put out that light. If they cannot put the light out, they can at least dim it. It is like a dimmer light, that you can just dial lower and lower. It is more “comfortable” for unsaved man that way, but it is not how God has designed His Word. God’s people love the light. We love the truth of the Word of God, even though it says the same thing about us as it says about everyone else. We were children of wrath, even as others. And we were desperately wicked in our hearts. Of course, God had a remedy for His people to take away that heart of stone that was desperately wicked and to give us a new heart.

Again, it said in in John 8:7-8:

So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground.

As He wrote the Word of God, they were being confronted with the truth and the light, and the Law that shows man his true nature. If Christ was writing the commandments down, they represent the completeness of the Bible, and everyone certainly breaks the Law of God in some point. If you transgress in one point, you are guilty of all. Therefore, it goes on to say in John 8:9-11:

And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.

They could not stay in Christ’s presence. Again, He is the Word. He is the Law. So, they could not continue with their evil plan devised out of their evil hearts to try to ensnare the Lord and to prove Him wrong in whatever decision He gave. In the wisdom of God, He worded His response in such a way that they could not “take hold of His words” and catch Him in it. It was incredible wisdom displayed by Christ. On a similar level, He answered them when they asked Him if they should pay tribute, or not. Then Jesus told them to take out a coin and He asked, “Whose is this image and superscription?” They said, “Caesar’s.” Then Christ said, “Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s.” Again, they marveled because they could not grab hold of His words. Typically, these men were skilled in deceitfulness and in their ability to devise evil entrapments that could catch any man. What man could possess such wisdom to avoid these kinds of traps? Well, this was no ordinary man. Remember, when they sent some soldiers to take Christ, but they returned without Him and it was asked why they did not take Him. They said, “Never man spake like this man.” And that was true of the Lord Jesus Christ because He knew what was in men; He knew how they were intending to trap Him.

So, here, Christ used the Word to bring conviction. They were convicted by their own consciences. That Law of God written upon the hearts of men is the reason men cannot be “totally depraved.” It is not possible to be totally depraved, although it is very possible to descend into awful depths of depravity, which we have witnessed over these last few decades as God is removing His hand of restraint. His Spirit had worked in the natural-minded people of the nations to restrain sin in their lives to a high degree over the course of history.

And this is what we see in the case of Abimelech. He was an evil man and, therefore, he possessed a heart that was operating in an evil way continually, as it said in Genesis 6:5: “the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” In this area, Abimelech had not sinned, and God acknowledged this fact by saying, “I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart; for I also withheld thee from sinning against me: therefore suffered I thee not to touch her.” God said He withheld Abimelech from sinning against Him. That is the “mystery of iniquity” the Bible speaks about. The word “withheld” that we see in this verse is a word we find in 1Samuel 25:38-39:

And it came to pass about ten days after, that JEHOVAH smote Nabal, that he died. And when David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, Blessed be JEHOVAH, that hath pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and hath kept his servant from evil: for JEHOVAH hath returned the wickedness of Nabal upon his own head. And David sent and communed with Abigail, to take her to him to wife.

Remember, David was going to smite Nabal and all that belonged to him because of what Nabal had done in refusing to give David a few lambs in exchange for watching over his flock. Abigail came to David and pleaded to David that he not do so. God is the orchestrator of all events and He operates behind the scenes. He moved Abigail to intercede, so David would not do what he had wanted to do. David recognized God’s hand in it: “Blessed be JEHOVAH that…hath kept his servant from evil.” The word “kept” is the same Hebrew word translated as “withheld” in Genesis 20 where God said, “For I also withheld thee from sinning against me.”

By the way, all sin is against God, ultimately, as the Lord moved David to write in Psalm 51:4: “Against thee, thee only, have I sinned…” All sin is against God; it is transgression against God’s Law and, therefore, it is transgression against God.

Again, it said, “for I also withheld thee from sinning against me: therefore suffered I thee not to touch her.” It is a Biblical principal that God worked in the lives of unsaved people, going all the way back, in this example, to 2068 B.C. And we have no reason to think that God has not been doing this ever since the fall of man in the Garden of Eden. When we look back at the history of mankind and read historical accounts – even in recent video and audio history – we are almost stunned at the decency of people. Their language is not like it is today. Their dress and appearance are nowhere near what it is today. For instance, they did not wear earrings in their noses. You would only see it in only in tribes of uncivilized people groups, but now we see it all over the earth.

We will get into this more when we get together in our next Bible study.