Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Genesis.  Tonight is study #3 of Genesis, chapter 21.  We will read the first three verses in Genesis 21:1-3:

And JEHOVAH visited Sarah as he had said, and JEHOVAH did unto Sarah as he had spoken. For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac.

In our last study, we were looking at what the Bible has to say about Sarah’s conception.  The Hebrew word is the typical word for “conceive” in verse 2, but when we went to the New Testament, we found something unusual referring to Sarah’s conception, in Hebrews 11:10-11:

For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised.

Here, the word translated as “conceive” is not the usual word translated as “conceive” in the New Testament.  We went to Luke, chapter 1 where we saw that God granted Elisabeth conception (who also conceived in her old age), and a different word was used.  We would think that word would have been perfect to use of Sarah and, yet, the Lord did not use that Greek word, but He used the word “kat-ab-ol-ay,” and it is Strong’s #2602.  It is a word that is used eleven times in the New Testament.  We went to some of those verses in our last study.  We are going to look at some more verses where this word is used because this word “kat-ab-ol-ay” is translated as “foundation” ten times out of eleven.  It is only in Hebrews 11:11 that it is translated a different way than “foundation.”  It is translated very differently there, is it not?  Sarah received strength to “conceive” seed.  Why would God use the word “kat-ab-ol-ay” for Sarah conceiving seed.

By the way, Hebrews 11:11 literally reads this way: “By faith also herself Sarah power into foundation of seed received.”  Again, it is very strange, indeed, why God chose this word.  Let us look at some of the other ten places where this word was translated as “foundation.”  It says in Matthew 13:35:

That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.

It says in Matthew 25:34:

Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

Also, it appears in Luke 11:50:

That the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation;

Then it says in John 17:24:

Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.

It says in Ephesians 1:4:

According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:

I read this verse last time, but let us read it again, in Hebrews 4:3:

For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.

It says in Revelation 13:8:

And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

Also, it uses this word in Revelation 17:8.  All ten times the word translated as “foundation” is used in association with things happening before the foundation of the world or from the foundation of the world.  It always has to do with the “foundation of the world,” which means that the word “foundation” identifies with eternity past.  It is very consistent, ten out of eleven times.  We must ask the question: When did God predestinate to save His elect people?  We understand that it was before the foundation of the world and before the world was created, in eternity past.  The works were finished from the foundation of the world, from a point in eternity past.  The only exception is this one verse in Hebrews 11:11:

Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed…

Again, literally, it says: “By faith also herself Sarah power into foundation of seed received.”  The word “foundation” has everything to do with before the world was or before the foundation of the world or from the foundation of the world.  So, if we were to honestly take the evidence the Bible gives us when we search out this word, we would say that this is a word that has to do with events or things that occurred before this world was.

But when it comes to Sarah conceiving seed, that does not fit because we know that Sarah existed in “time” and she conceived seed and give birth to Isaac in history.  Isaac was born in 2067 B.C. and not before this world was or before the foundation of the world.  There had been thousands of years of prior history on this earth.

However, when we look at the spiritual meaning or the figurative teaching the Bible presents, then it is a different matter.  Isaac’s birth was a very special birth because it points to the Lord Jesus Christ.  Remember He is the “seed.”  Let us go back to Genesis 17, remembering that Hebrews 11 is speaking of a “foundation of seed.”  The seed born to Sarah is the same seed promised to Abraham in Genesis 17:7-8:

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.

We read this, and we think of Abraham’s descendants, the nation of Israel and, yet, God assists us in understanding what He had in mind by the word “seed” in Galatians 3:16:

Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.

In other words, the word is singular, not plural.  God gave promise of a seed (singular) and, here, God is defining what it means.  The promised seed was Christ.  Christ would be the seed.  But what about Abraham and his descendants?  Of course, we know it is not pointing to physical Israel, but spiritual Israel.

But what about the elect?  God further explains in Galatians 3:29:

And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Christ is the seed (singular), but Christ purchased a people for Himself through His atoning work and they would be counted for the seed (plural) through Him.  That is how Abraham was the father of many nations, but the seed is singular because it had to do with Christ and all those He would save. 

So, again, it was the “foundation of seed,” as God says that Sarah gave birth to the “foundation of seed,” but we know the seed is Jesus.  When we read of the promised seed and then Sarah conceived and bore a son, we know the spiritual picture is of Christ – He is that seed.

In keeping with that, we can see in the birth of Isaac that Isaac is a great type of Christ.  It is very clear.  God makes it extremely clear in the next chapter of Genesis when God commanded Abraham to take his only son Isaac and sacrifice him.  It says in Genesis 22:9-12:

And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. And the angel of JEHOVAH called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I. And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.

Is this not interesting?  It is very interesting because Isaac’s birth is related the foundation of the world.  According to the Bible, we know that the foundation of the world was when the Lamb (Jesus) was slain.  When He finished the atonement, that is when He rose from the dead to be declared the Son of God through the resurrection from the dead.  In other words, when Isaac was born to Sarah and came forth from Sarah’s womb (a dead womb), it was as if the birth of Isaac was a picture of the atoning work of the Lord Jesus at the foundation of the world when He died for the sins of His people.  Isaac’s birth was a figure, but when Abraham went about to offer him up, it was as though it was a second birth, because Isaac’s initial birth was a miraculous birth based on what Gold told us in Hebrews 11:11, where it is a picture of Christ’s resurrection from the foundation of the world.  Here, Isaac was several years old, but we do not know exactly how old he was when Abraham went to offer him as a sacrifice.  It was a tableau at that point – it was a living demonstration, or a figure, of what Christ would do when He entered into the world and went to the cross to demonstrate the things He had done at the foundation of the world.

We know that this is a “figure,” because God stopped Abraham (from sacrificing Isaac), but in Hebrews 11 God tells us in Hebrews 11:17:

By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son,

The word translated as “only begotten” is “mon-og-en-ace.”  Please check out that Greek word.  You will find that it is used in very special circumstances where people come back from the dead; they die and come back from the dead.  In other words, it identifies with someone that has resurrected.  It was used in John 3:16, because Christ had already resurrected from the dead before He entered into the world to be God’s only begotten Son.

Here, it is used regarding Isaac.  It goes on to say in Hebrews 11:18-19:

Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.

I mentioned in our last study that the word “figure” is Strong’s #3850 and it is the word also translated as “parable.”  It is the word used in Matthew 13:34: “…and without a parable spake he not unto them.”

So, Abraham received Isaac in a parable a second time.  Isaac’s birth was a figure of the first time.  And the Bible does teach that Christ was smitten twice.  That is why Moses smote the rock two times.  Moses is a figure of the Law of God.  He smote the rock once.  Then he smote the rock a second time.  Who does the “rock” represent?  If we allow the Bible to tell us, it says in 1Corinthians 10: “…that Rock was Christ.”  Moses, who is a figure or representation of the Law of God, smote Him twice.  In the Hebrew, the word “smote” can also be translated as “kill.”  Moses (the Law) killed the rock (Christ) twice.  It occurred once at the foundation of the world when Christ made payment for the sins of His people.  That was done “once for all,” and never again would Christ have to die to pay for sin.  The second time He was smitten to “fulfill all righteousness.”  It was the Father’s will for Him to show forth what He had done the first time by demonstrating it in a living figure or parable of the reality of what He had done at the foundation.  Yes – Christ was smitten by the Law of God twice because He suffered and died twice. 

It is obvious when we allow the Bible to be its own interpreter and when we consistently follow the methodology of coming to truth that we always use.  I would ask anyone that is not able to see that Christ died twice (once to pay for sin and once in a tableau or demonstration) to be consistent and follow the proper Biblical hermeneutic of comparing Scripture with Scripture, harmonizing the Scriptures, and looking for the deeper, spiritual meaning.  When you look at Moses smiting the rock twice, if you are honest in looking at these things (and if God opens your spiritual eyes), you will see that Moses is a figure of the Law; the rock clearly identifies as Christ; the word smite is to “kill.”  What does it mean?  It means the Law killed Christ twice.

How can we understand this?  We were never able to understand this before, but now we can understand it.  Does that not fit perfectly with the doctrine(s) we have learned as God has opened the Scriptures at the time of the end?  Does it not fit perfectly with Revelation 13:8 and Christ being the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world?  To be “slain” means to be smitten, like Moses smote the rock.  Does it not fit perfectly with the second time Christ was killed when He went to the cross in 33 A.D.?  We have learned how to understand the Scripture in the Old Testament that says Moses struck the rock twice.

Lord willing, we will continue to look at the word “foundation” and what God is telling us here, because it is such an important and wonderful truth.  As it says in Psalm 119:18: “Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.”  This is one of those wondrous things that God has shown to His people in this time of judgment.