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Throughout the “awesome hands” studies, we have seen many types and shadows. In part 8, we are going to continue to build upon the types and shadows as they have been given to us in the OT.

In part 6, we saw one type and shadow of Abram only giving 10 percent but requiring that those confederate with Abram get “their portion”. We try to get things going and we try to get the show on the road with Ishmael, but God will have us reap what we sow.

It is through the things we are used to do in our lives, the things we are used to sow what we will later reap, that the Lord brings us to utter desolation and devastation that all we can do is call out to Him so that He can deliver us.

Gen 19:18 –  And Lot said unto them, Oh, not so, my Lord:
Gen 19:19 –  Behold now, thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shewed unto me in saving my life; and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die:
Gen 19:20 –  Behold now, this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one: Oh, let me escape thither, (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live.
Gen 19:21 –  And he said unto him, See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow this city, for the which thou hast spoken.
Gen 19:22 –  Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do any thing till thou be come thither. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.

Even with all that the Lord has done for us up until the point, even after sending deliverers to save us from the coming destruction, we want to plead with the Lord that we are gonna die.  He is going to deliver us, but each time we contend with the Lord about saving us it is interesting to note that He then allows us to reap what we sow. Our doubt, our lack of Faith, leads towards more death….. in this case, the death of our wife.

Gen 19:23 –  The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar.
Gen 19:24 –  Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven;
Gen 19:25 –  And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.
Gen 19:26 –  But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.

At different parts of our walk with the Lord, we can see Him working His will so that when we don’t have judgment He sends His messengers to dwell with us in “our house” so that we can be saved from the inhabitants of the land that are going to be destroyed.

During the heat of the day, and while we dwell in the door of the tent, we see the Lord working His judgment in us so that we can later have the fruits of the promised covenant be born in us.

All of these types and shadows happen in us and to us so that we can go through the process of bearing the fruit that leads to aionion life and not towards reaping what only decays.

In this study, we will continue to look at the work of the awesome hands of the Lord in Gen 20:5 as He continues to work with us in our lives and as we continue to do everything in our power to preserve ourselves even given all that the Lord has done for us thus far.

Lord willing, we will also see that it is by the Lord’s mercy that our brothers our saved through us because the mercy that He has showed us is because of their unbelief.

It is the fiery trial that tries our Faith, given to us by the Lord, which truly is precious to the Lord. It is what is used to teach us that WORDS are so important. Indeed, words are what we are given to come to know the Lord for He is the final Word on the Word of God. He is One Word, and we are summed up with Him.

As we learned last study, the Lord treats us differently than our brothers and He will call us out from them. We will be parted down the middle with and by fire and oil like is given to us in Abraham’s admonition only given to His elect to understand.

To day, the Lord will come to us in the heat of the day and let us know what He intends for us to do, be and achieve. It is in the night, in sleep that the Lord finds our brother’s son Lot, our nephew called our brother, to let him know that the Lord intends to destroy His dwelling and “everything on the earth”.

 

“Our father is old”

 

We ended last study with Lot’s wife being turned into a pillar of salt. Now, we are going to see again that it is early in the morning the Abraham sees what the Lord has done with Sodom and Gomorrah.

Gen 19:26 –  But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.
Gen 19:27 –  And Abraham gat up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the LORD:
Gen 19:28 –  And he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace.

Directly after we see Lot’s wife turned into a pillar of salt, we see that we have Abraham wake early in the morning and come to the place where he stood before the Lord.  Abraham looks towards the destruction of the old man, in type and shadow, when he looks towards where the old man goes…. away from judgment and maturity.

Abraham is north and west of Lot and, so Abraham is looking south and east towards Lot. We can conclude this because when Abraham separates from Lot, Lot chooses to go east and pitch his tent towards Sodom. We know Zoar is south near the Dead Sea and most scholars believe Sodom and Gomorrah are south of the Dead Sea.

We know Lot went up into Zoar to be saved because he cried out to the Lord to not send him into the mountain.  Abraham is north of Hebron in Mamre or there abouts.

Abraham is looking at “destroyed cities of the plain”. This is when Lot goes into Zoar as well. So, what can we see, hear and learn from all of this as it pertains to the awesome hands of the Lord?

The Lord saves Lot from the destruction of the city by using the “hands” of the messengers of God to pull Lot into the house, blind those outside the house, and then tell Lot to flee the city.

Not only that, God gives Lot enough time to go around to his family and tell them that imminent danger is coming. Of course, Lot is mocked just like we are, but destruction does come.

Now, after Lot is in Zoar and Abraham is able to “see what the Lord has wrought”, we will see what the Lord has in store next for the “old man” which the Lord has used His new man, Abraham (in type and shadow), to save.

Lot will go to the place where he didn’t want to go before and this is when the Lord “remembers” Abraham and Lot.

Gen 19:29 –  And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in the which Lot dwelt.
Gen 19:30 –  And Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he feared to dwell in Zoar: and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters.
Gen 19:31 –  And the firstborn said unto the younger, Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in unto us after the manner of all the earth:

Remember, these are the same two daughters that Lot offered to the men of the city who wanted to “know” the messengers of the rod who were staying with Lot and had come to destroy the city.

The messengers came to destroy the city, but the city wanted to fulfill the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life with the angels of the Lord.

“Say unto this mountain …”

There is an important build up to where we see hands mentioned in scripture as it pertains the study on the “awesome hands” of God in scripture.

There is a lot that happens between the man of the Lord placing his hands on Lot and his family to rescue them from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah to Gen 20:5.  So, I am going to cover that as the Lord wills it and as I start with Lot.

Lot goes to dwell in the mountain based on fear again and his daughters conspire to “get to know” their father so that they can propagate. They do this by getting Lot drunk so that they can preserve his seed, but how is this done?

It is done with wine, strong drink….. drink that is meant to overcome a person…. it is done with words, with doctrine, with anything that is not as the Word of God which we worship in Spirit and Truth but it is done with another Jesus, a false gospel, the anti- Christ.

It is done to preserve the status- quo because “there is not a man IN THE EARTH to achieve being fruitful after the manner of the earth”, in other words we need to keep the traditions of man.

Lot was right to originally fear to “go to the mountain” because it is in the mountain that we run to when the Lord of glory has come to devour and destroy us.

It is in the mountain where we flee when we know that there is no other hope, but it is THIS MOUNTAIN that we are told that we can move with the faith of a mustard seed if only we believed.

If we had love and not fear we could do just that, but we fear at every turn and it is this fear which ultimately drive us to our ultimate work in the mountain and of the flesh which is DEATH!

It is here that we are drunk, just like Noah became drunk. It is here after all the salvation we have been given that we again turn to the weak and beggarly elements of the earth to yet again reproduce what we have always found comfort in.

If only we would SAY to this mountain, be MOVED to the SEA!

Just how important is the mountain we are talking about? Have you ever noticed how many times in the NT that a mountain is mentioned?

I encourage everyone here to do a mini- study on your own to look this up in e- sword or the like and I think you will find it quite interesting with what we are covering with this study. There are simply too many verses to cover in this time frame to do justice to the point, but here is one example:

Mat 17:14 –  And when they were come to the multitude, there came to him a certain man, kneeling down to him, and saying,
Mat 17:15 –  Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is lunatick, and sore vexed: for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water.
Mat 17:16 –  And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him.
Mat 17:17 –  Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me.
Mat 17:18 –  And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour.
Mat 17:19 –  Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out?
Mat 17:20 –  And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
Mat 17:21 –  Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.

It is in the same gospel that we see Christ again making reference to the mountain, but this time we see a co- parable to go along with it.

Mat 21:18 –  Now in the morning as he returned into the city, he hungered.
Mat 21:19 –  And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever. And presently the fig tree withered away.
Mat 21:20 –  And when the disciples saw it, they marvelled, saying, How soon is the fig tree withered away!
Mat 21:21 –  Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done.
Mat 21:22 –  And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.

It is on a mountain we receive the ten commandments, it is on a mountain that Christ is tempted and shown all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, it is on a mountain that there are a herd of swine for which the legion of devils besought Christ to enter into the swine instead of the deep but they go to the deep anyways.

It is on a mountain that we and our fathers before us worship, but there is coming a time when we no longer need the mountain because we cast it BACK into the sea. There comes an hour when we will worship God in Spirit and Truth!

A mountain is the highest form of the earth as it reaches towards the heavens. A mountain is the closest example we have of us coming closest to the Lord. It is on a mountain that we both die and are born, and it is a mountain from which both fire and thundering’s lead to our salvation!

Rev 8:8 –  And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood;

Rev 21:10 –  And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,

Would you like to know how to have faith to remove a mountain in your life? Ask in prayer, believing in the Word of God to send you all things!

There is only ONE WORD that matters and that is the Word of God so let it fill you night and day. Dwell on it, sing it in your hearts and believe on and in it!

Pray, or in other words, LIVE the life of belief not only hearing but DOING it so that “the inhabitants of the cities” go back and give others their report of what they have seen in and through you!

Let the hope that is in you be your answer as someone asks you of your Faith. Do you live it out? Do you become the stench of death to those around you because of the fear that the Lord uses you to cast into their heavens?

Luk 8:33 –  Then went the devils out of the man, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the lake, and were choked.
Luk 8:34 –  When they that fed them saw what was done, they fled, and went and told it in the city and in the country.
Luk 8:35 –  Then they went out to see what was done; and came to Jesus, and found the man, out of whom the devils were departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid.
Luk 8:36 –  They also which saw it told them by what means he that was possessed of the devils was healed.
Luk 8:37 –  Then the whole multitude of the country of the Gadarenes round about besought him to depart from them; for they were taken with great fear: and he went up into the ship, and returned back again.

How do we live our belief since it is given to us of the Lord? After all, Faith is a gift. How do we handle the everyday fiery trials that are sent our way our “chastened sons of God”?

2Co 10:1 –  Now I Paul myself beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in presence am base among you, but being absent am bold toward you:
2Co 10:2 –  But I beseech you, that I may not be bold when I am present with that confidence, wherewith I think to be bold against some, which think of us as if we walked according to the flesh.

Just as Paul, I share this understanding with you all as it has been given to me of the Lord. I share it with you in meekness and gentleness know that it is the Lord who gives all Faith to any and everyone.

Like Paul, I too ask you if you think we walk according to the flesh or do we now only walk IN IT?

2Co 10:3 –  For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:
2Co 10:4 –  (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
2Co 10:5 –  Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
2Co 10:6 –  And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.

What please tell me, can we do for or against the flesh to better ourselves? What can we do to prop ourselves up a little bit closer to “best position” beside Christ in the kingdom of God?

Being a little task to God, if we cannot equally will our height to be decreased or increased by an inch, then how can we ever expect to deal with a false doctrine, an evil spirit or a mind of confusion by doing something for our flesh?

Are you over weight? If you simply just stop eating and exercise more than you can fix that problem in your life.

Are you depressed? If you simply just snap out of it, then you will gain more control over yourself and thoughts and you can move on with your life along with everyone else.

Poor? Work harder. Getting Old? Just apply a little cream to that.

Isn’t there a solution out there in the world, a book I haven’t read, a person I haven’t consulted that can help me with the problems in my flesh to make my flesh more bearable so that I can get on with the next day?

I S. P. E. A. K. as a fool, utterly.

There is nothing in or of the world that can help me with the principalities, powers, rulers of darkness of this world and against the spiritual wickedness in my high heavenly places like the armor of God can!

I stand, as Abraham did…going to the altar of the Lord, the succinct One Word of God which is the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and End and know that IT is my FAST and my LIFE is summed up in it by living it out in prayer.

Eph 6:10 –  Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
Eph 6:11 –  Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
Eph 6:12 –  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Eph 6:13 –  Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
Eph 6:14 –  Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;
Eph 6:15 –  And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
Eph 6:16 –  Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
Eph 6:17 –  And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
Eph 6:18 –  Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;
Eph 6:19 –  And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel,
Eph 6:20 –  For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

What faith do I have in anything of this flesh or the flesh of others? None!

 

Stand therefore

 

The power of His might NOW allows me to deal with the mountain in my life in a different mindset. I now know that it is God and God alone who wills anything to happen in my life. So, I am told to stand.

Interestingly, we are given armor now, armor which is entirely made up of the Word of God or Christ. In the Tai Chi I have been trained in, rooting or becoming rooted is a big focus as a practitioner learns to use the ground and become as a “mountain or tree”.

In scripture, we are told to stand and as you can imagine you take on a lot more weight which weighs you down as you take on more armor and weapons of offense and defense. With the Word of God, we live out our Faith by relying solely on the Word of God and it working through the members of the body of Christ.

Our words or our thoughts are so powerful. Our thoughts reside in our mind, and it is our mind that gives us our direction, so I ask you what mind you have?

Given what we know Ephesians just said, what does 2Co 10:3 -6 mean to you now?

2Co 10:3 –  For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:
2Co 10:4 –  (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
2Co 10:5 –  Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
2Co 10:6 –  And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.

How is our obedience fulfilled? We live every day as He did.

How did Christ live? He lived to do the will of His Father.

What is the Will of the Father for us? He doesn’t want sacrifice but that we are obedient.

How do we become obedient? We stand.

How do we stand just? After we fall.

Where do we fall? With our face to the ground looking at the Foundation which has been laid since the world began.

1Co 3:11 –  For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
1Co 3:12 –  Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;
1Co 3:13 –  Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.

Now, I must ask you as I ask myself, what are you piling up on the Foundation you are looking at as you face the ground and pray to God? What do you sow to … the earth or the heavens, the flesh or the spirit?

1Co 3:14 –  If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
1Co 3:15 –  If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.
1Co 3:16 –  Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
1Co 3:17 –  If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

We are given to know that we are able to see New Jerusalem from a “great and high mountain in the spirit” and we know that we are the temple of God, so I ask you now if you understand how to bring into captivity every thought?

What we think about the Lord doing in our lives, how we react or don’t react, how we talk to others about those things and how we deal with the fiery trial as it happens directly affects what the outcome is as is it planned of the Lord.

Meaning, we are set in motion to learn obedience through suffering, just as Christ did because we will not desire to be obedient until we understand it and have knowledge of just how peaceful it is to have the Faith which surpasses all understanding.

Peace comes through Faith that the Lord is going to do for us what it is He has planned for us and promised to us.

If I am over- weight and now armored with the mind of Christ, the Word of God, I know that I can work on losing weight knowing that as I go through the process and want only to glorify the Lord in all that I do, then I BELIEVE that the Lord will deliver me and it will be done as it is in Heaven.

If I don’t lose weight, then I know the Lord has willed it and I can again pray and fast which simply means I live out my Faith. When this happens, as with all fiery trials we go through, we are able to come out of it showing others what wonderful works the Lord has done in us because of His mind in us.

 

We “sow our enemies” around us

 

We see this type and shadow playing out with Lot and his daughters. Continuing on in this story and concluding this study, knowing that it happened for our admonition, let’s see what happens as we try to hold onto our old ways, traditions and customs.

What do our doctrines, at this time in our walk, do for us in the kingdom of God?

Gen 19:32 –  Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.
Gen 19:33 –  And they made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose.
Gen 19:34 –  And it came to pass on the morrow, that the firstborn said unto the younger, Behold, I lay yesternight with my father: let us make him drink wine this night also; and go thou in, and lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.
Gen 19:35 –  And they made their father drink wine that night also: and the younger arose, and lay with him; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose.
Gen 19:36 –  Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father.
Gen 19:37 –  And the firstborn bare a son, and called his name Moab: the same is the father of the Moabites unto this day.
Gen 19:38 –  And the younger, she also bare a son, and called his name Benammi: the same is the father of the children of Ammon unto this day.

Our daughters, our flesh has tricked us into making more of itself. We now have been given wine and made drunken. This will lead to Moab and Benammi having children who will be our enemies “unto this day”.

In this type and shadow as Abraham the new man, we have Ishmael which will go on to have children who will battle “the children of promise” for the land and they have all been blessed of the Lord to do so as we saw in the last study.

Hagar and her seed are blessed by the Lord to do exactly what they have been created to do …. be the enemy of Christ, anti- Christ as defined scripturally, and we all have been that seed by being born of a woman.

Alas, we have the Lord on our side and He is showing mercy on us by having created some who will now not have faith so that He can be glorified in those who are given it now, in this life and who are judged thereby.

It is this trial which will continue to mold us as Abraham, in type and shadow, to finally have a trail of Faith which sets the tone for the battle which takes place between Isaac and Ishmael later.

In the next study, we will look at verse 20:5 and how Abraham yet again has little faith that he will be okay because the Lord is God almighty.

So, we’ll see yet again how we, like Abraham, try to make things work out best for our flesh by constructing a ploy to trick those who the Lord has placed us in front of.

It will only lead us to being made an open book to those around us, but we will ultimately still be okay as the Lord promises us He will always take care of us for good.

Luk 8:38 –  Now the man out of whom the devils were departed besought him that he might be with him: but Jesus sent him away, saying,
Luk 8:39 –  Return to thine own house, and shew how great things God hath done unto thee. And he went his way, and published throughout the whole city how great things Jesus had done unto him.

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