June 2023 – Page 2 – What Does This Mean?

Sunday School: Isaac and Rebekah’s Favorite Sons

Encore Post: God blessed Isaac and Rebekah a lot. He gave them a good land to live in, riches, servants, flocks and twin boys. God promised to make their family to grow to become a nation. The Messiah would come from their descendants.

Yet the family of Abraham was dysfunctional from the very start. Abraham loved Isaac more than Ishmael. Isaac loved Esau more than Jacob and Rebekah loved Jacob more than Esau. Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah and Rachel’s children, especially Joseph, more than all his other children. That really did not work well for them.

God told Rebekah that Jacob would be the family’s leader when Isaac died. But normally the older son had this blessing. So Isaac didn’t listen to God and intended to give that blessing to Esau. Rebekah was afraid that God would not keep His promise and helped Jacob to trick Isaac. Esau didn’t think his father’s blessing was very important, so he sold it to Jacob for a good meal. Jacob didn’t want to wait for God to give the blessing to him, so he tried to get it himself by tricking his brother and father out of it. The story did not end well. Esau was very angry and Jacob ran away to his uncle Laban with only the clothes on his back.

Still, God forgave them. He continued to bless Isaac, Rebekah and Esau. He gave Jacob two wives, Leah and Rachel, many flocks of sheep and riches. When he came back home, afraid that Esau would still be angry with him. To remind Jacob that he was still with him, God came to Jacob at night in the person of the Son of God and wrestled with him all night. When the night was over, God renamed Jacob (which means “heel”) Israel (“he struggles with God”)

Soon Israel discovered that his brother loved him still and forgave the mean things Israel did to him years before. So they lived together as family from that time on. Yet it appears that Israel didn’t learn much through experience, as we will discover in later posts.

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Concordia Theological Seminary
Fort Wayne, Indiana

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Sunday School: Isaac and Rebekah

Encore Post: The story of Isaac and Rebekah sounds very strange to us in America of the Twenty-First century. In our culture, people search for their own spouses — if they get married at all. The thought that a parent would find a wife for their son, much less trust a servant to search for her, negotiate the marriage as a business deal seems all wrong. And yet, for most of human history and in many cultures today, arranged marriages were the way that marriages are done. Many of these marriages developed into very close, loving relationships.

Abraham knew that he was getting old. He had buried his wife three years earlier. He knew that a wife from the unbelieving world around him would not be God-pleasing or helpful in producing a family from which the messiah would be born two thousand years later. He also knew he couldn’t make the trip back to Haran to seek a wife for his son among those who believed in God. So Abraham trusts his servant, who would inherit everything if Isaac didn’t have children. His servant makes the search his own, devoting himself to prayer and seeking a bride with a servant heart. While he was praying for wisdom at a well near his destination, Rebekah came up to offer him and his camels water, which she did not have to do. Recognizing a selfless, serving heart in her, the servant sought to arrange a marriage between her and Isaac.

Rebekah’s family shows faith in God and love of Abraham in sending Rebekah to Isaac. When the servant told his story, they also recognized God’s hand in the marriage. Yet they still asked Rebekah’s consent, who agreed. Isaac was praying when the servant and Rebekah arrived in Canaan. He receives her as his wife and loved her from the start. Because of these acts of love and trust, Jesus would one day be born, descended from Rebekah and Isaac.

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Concordia Theological Seminary
Fort Wayne, Indiana

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Sunday School: God provides a Lamb for Abraham

Encore Post: The sacrifice of the Son of God and the sacrifice of Isaac are closely related. Isaac is Abraham’s son, His only Son, whom he loves. Jesus is God’s Son, His only Son, Whom He loves.

When God told Abraham to go to Mount Moriah, He picked the place that Solomon would choose to build the temple. On this spot, Abraham was ready to sacrifice his son. God had promised that it would be through Isaac that Abraham’s descendants would become more numerous than the sand on the seashore and the stars in the sky. Abraham did not know how God would keep His promise. He thought that perhaps God would raise Isaac from the dead (Hebrews 11:17-18).

When Abraham was ready to perform the sacrifice, the Angel of the Lord appeared and stopped the sacrifice. Christian theologians believe this figure is the Son of God Himself, appearing before His birth. So, God spared Abraham’s son, but He did not spare His Son, His only Son, Whom He loved, but provided Him as the sacrifice that ends all sacrifice. Two thousand years after this event, Jesus would be condemned to death on the very same spot. God indeed provided the Lamb for the sacrifice for our sins.

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Concordia Theological Seminary
Fort Wayne, Indiana

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Sunday School: Abraham, Sarah and Isaac

Encore Post: In ancient times, names were very important. People thought that names told you something about the person who had them. When something important happened in a person’s life, sometimes they changed their name as well.

In the Bible, a name is often given with its meaning. When Adam gave his wife the name Eve because she would be the mother of all living. (Genesis 3:20) — The word Eve sounds like the word for life giver in Hebrew. God changed Abram’s name to Abraham because “for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.” (Genesis 17:5) Abraham means father of a multitude in Hebrew. God also changed Sarai’s name to Sarah, which means “princess.” (Genesis 17:15) When both Abraham and Sarah laughed at God’s promise to give them a son, God told them to name that son, Isaac, which means”laughed.” (Genesis 17:19) Later, God would tell Mary and Joseph to name their son, Jesus, because he would save His people from their sins. In Hebrew, the name Jesus means God saves or God is salvation.

For nearly a lifetime, Abraham lived a life of faith. He trusted God to keep his promises. God told him to become a nomadic herdsman and take his family to the land of Canaan, which God promised to give to his descendants. He promised to give him and Sarah a son and through that son make him the ancestor of many nations. Yet, year after year, they did not have children. So, then, they decided that maybe they were to have a child through a surrogate — Sarah’s slave girl Hagar. Hagar gave birth to Ishmael, whom God revealed would not be Abraham’s heir. When Abraham and Sarah sent them away, God provided for them. Ishmael would be the ancestor of the Arab peoples.

So God came to visit Abraham to renew his promise. He came as three men, for whom Abraham threw a feast. They promised a son to Abraham and Sarah within a year. It was then that the couple laughed — since they were barren and long past the age to have children. When finally Isaac — Laughed — was born, Sarah laughed again. She said the laugh was at her, since she doubted to power of God to keep his word.

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Concordia Theological Seminary
Fort Wayne, Indiana

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Sunday School: Job and Suffering Even Though We Don’t Know Why

Encore Post: Job was a good man. He loved God and served Him well. When Job lost everything he had, his friends thought that he must have done something very evil. Yet Job insisted he did nothing wrong. He could not figure out why these things were happening to him. Job was right. God allowed Satan to attack Job to test his faith, not to punish him.

When Adam and Eve disobeyed God, sin, sickness, disaster and death entered the world. Most of the time, innocent people suffer from them. Because God loves us, He does not want people to suffer and to die from these things. He wants us to live the way He intended us to live when He made the world and called it “very good.” So He sent His Son to die in our place and pay for our sins. Now our sins are forgiven and we will live forever with Him. One day Jesus will return to bring a final end to sin, suffering, grief and death. In life everlasting, He will dry every tear from our eyes.

Yet sin, suffering, grief and death continue in this world — even for us. When Job finally lost his health, he complained to God that it wasn’t fair. He was, after all, a good man. God pointed out that Job should trust Him, even though Job could not understand why he was suffering. God knows what’s best and sometimes He allows evil to happen because ending it is worse than allowing it to take its course. God can use the evil of the world to strengthen our faith — our trust — in him and his promises. Job repented of questioning God and placed his trust in God’s love. In the end, God restored Job’s prosperity.

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Concordia Theological Seminary
Fort Wayne, Indiana

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Sunday School: The Tower of Babel

Encore Post: The Egyptians were not the only people that built pyramids. The Mayans, the Aztecs, the Sumerians — and the Babylonians did also. The all had the same purpose. They were meant to be man-made mountains that would be a ladder from Earth to Heaven, where they could visit the gods, sacrifice to them and get what they want from heaven. Most had temples at the very top, where sacrifices were made, some of them human sacrifices.

The people of Babel intended to settle down, build a city and one of these temples. This idea was sinful in two ways. God had commanded them to migrate over the whole Earth and fill it with people. They saw good farmland and decided to stay. They decide to build a great temple to manipulate God so that they could get everything they wanted. In a sense, they worshipped themselves. But God confused their language and scattered them anyway. Their sin resulted in people fearing each other and set one nation against another.

But Jesus came to be the ultimate sacrifice. His death was not an attempt to manipulate God, but was God of His own free will paying the price for their sins of rebellion. In Jesus, all divisions among people come to an end. The miracle of the Day of Pentecost showed that God can make us one people again — not to serve ourselves, but worship God together.

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Concordia Theological Seminary
Fort Wayne, Indiana

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Sunday School: Noah’s Ark

Encore Post: After the Fall, sin spread to every corner of creation and infected it with evil. Two groups of people emerged among the sons of Adam and Eve. One group Moses called the Sons of God, those who clung to God according the faith, and the other the daughters of men, who lived according to their sinful desires. When the Sons of God began to marry the daughters of men, the trend of unfaithfulness to God grew in strength. God saw “that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” ( Genesis 6:5). But Noah found favor in God’s eyes.

The first time we read about the flood, we get the impression that Noah and his family were saved because they were saints in a world full of sinners. But this is not true. They were just as sinful at heart as their neighbors. The difference was that they “walked with God” (6:9) and were righteous by faith (Hebrews 11:7), trusting God to care for them and obeying His commands. Even when God decided to wipe out all the sin, he delayed while Noah as a prophet warned people and built the Ark. When the flood came, God preserved the lives of Noah and his family and breeding stock of all living creatures. He made a covenant with mankind through Noah never to destroy the whole world by flood again, sealing it with a rainbow as a reminder to him to spare them all.

The flood reminds Christians of baptism, in which our sins are drowned and we are safely carried to new life. Martin Luther’s “flood prayer,” which calls attention to God’s saving of Noah, has returned to the Baptism service in the latest Missouri Synod hymnal. The early church used the image of the Ark as a symbol for the church, which carries us to everlasting. In fact, the place in a church building where the people sit is called the nave, Latin for ship, because of that imagery.

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Concordia Theological Seminary
Fort Wayne, Indiana

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Sunday School: Cain and Abel

Encore Post: After the Fall, God was still with Adam and Eve. He blessed them with many sons and daughters. We do not know the names of most of them. After some time, how long we do not know, God blessed Adam and Eve with a son, Cain. Martin Luther was convinced she thought he was the promised Messiah. Even if this is not true, she recognized the he was a gift from God. “I have gotten a man (with the help of) the Lord.” (Genesis 4:1) Not long after, she gave birth to another son — Abel.

Adam and Eve, like many of us, put a lot of hope in our firstborn child. God, however, is not impressed with appearance, skill or birth order. He looks for what is in a person’s heart. (1 Samuel 16:7) In Genesis especially, God tends to favor the second born. Here that is Abel, who trusted God rather than Cain, who didn’t trust God so much.

Both Abel and Cain brought offerings to God. Cain gave some of his crops to God because he felt he had to. Abel gave the very best of the very best of his flock because he loved God. God accepted both gifts, but favored Abel’s over Cain’s because Abel gave his gift by faith, while Cain offered his as a work. This made Cain angry and jealous. God warned him not to give into these sinful thoughts. But Cain did not do so. Instead he killed Abel, committing the first murder.

Cain thought he had silenced Abel. But no one can hide anything from God. Abel’s blood called out for vengeance. God cursed Cain to the life of a nomad, but protected him from the vengeance of others. The Scriptures are silent as to whether Cain ever repented, although he did not at first. We do know God never gave up on him.

Jesus named Abel as the first martyr, killed for his faith in God. Yet, as the hymn writer puts it:

Abel’s blood for vengeance
Pleaded to the skies;
But the blood of Jesus
For our pardon cries. (“Glory be to Jesus” Stanza 4)

Jesus also died an innocent death, but he did so willingly. He took the guilt of the murders of all the martyrs and all people to the cross, where God worked his vengeance on his only Son. Having paid the price of all sins once and for all, he rose from the dead to justify all who had faith in him.

The story of Cain and Abel is the beginning of a long, sad tale of evil, but it is not the last story. The Cross is God’s answer and one day Jesus will return so all can live happily ever after.

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Sunday School: Sin Enters the World

Encore Post: Everything was perfect in the Garden of Eden. Sin did not exist. There was no sickness, suffering, grief or pain. Death did not exist. If nothing had happened, Adam and Eve would have lived in harmony with God, each other and all creation. There was only one rule: do not eat the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Into this perfect scene, Satan came in the form of a snake.

Satan tempted Eve with a lie. This is not surprising because he is a liar and the Father of Lies. “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:4–5) The irony, of course is they were already like God. And, in trying to become like God, they became not like God at all. They decided to become their own gods.

The church calls this the Original Sin. The effect was immediate. Instead of being turned outward to serve God and each other, the original sin changed their orientation. They were curved in on themselves, serving their desires above all else. They were separated from God and hid from him, as if you can hide from God. (which, of course, you cannot!) They transmitted this orientation to their children, and, through them to every human being (except one… but that’s later in the story of the Bible!) — including us.

God was not kidding when he warned Adam: “in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Genesis 2:17) Everything was cut off from God, the author of life. From that moment, everything began to die: Adam, Eve, plants, animals, their children … even the air, the sea and the ground. Disease began to infect people. Everything became a struggle to survive. God summed it up: “By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” (Genesis 3:19)

Yet even on this, the darkest day, the first ray of the gospel shone. God himself gives the first prophecy of Christ, called by the Church the protevangelium — the First Gospel. To Satan he said: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”” (Genesis 3:15) Jesus, the Descendant of Eve will wound Satan by defeating him on the cross. While God held Adam responsible for the Fall. St. Paul explains that sin infected all people through this one man, Adam. However, the good news is that by the sacrifice of one man, Jesus Christ, sin is paid for and God’s forgiveness comes to all people. Yet much suffering was yet to come before his coming.

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Concordia Theological Seminary
Fort Wayne, Indiana

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Sunday School: God makes Adam and Eve

Encore Post: Moses tells the story of creation twice. Hebrew writers believed that if something is important, you repeat it, but cover different details each time. The first story tells us how God created most of the universe simply by speaking — and it came to be! The creation of Adam and Eve is much different. God gets down on His hands and knees and makes us with His own hands. He does this because we are much more important to Him.

When God said, Let us make man in our own image, He did not mean that we look like Him or that we are the only beings that make decisions like He does. God made Adam and Eve to be holy like He is. Sadly, by trying to be just like God, (Genesis 3:5) Adam and Eve became less like Him. By the Cross, God once again makes us to be just like Him by making us to be just like Jesus. (Romans 8:28-29)

The creation of Adam and Eve reveals more about God and people than just that. God made Adam first and all alone. His first task was to name all the animals. Along the way, Adam noticed something was missing. There was no one just like him. God sums it up when he said, “I will make him a helper fit for him” So God made Eve from one of his ribs. With joy, Adam said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” (Genesis 2:23)

In doing this, God established marriage. From that day forward, a man and a woman will leave their parents and form a family, which, when God blesses, includes children. No other relationship prospers like this one, made and blessed by God. In it human beings come as close as they can come to reflecting the Holy Trinity. Two persons, distinct and their own, become one. Although sin has damaged the relationship between husbands and wives, parents and children, still God blesses families where father and mother love each other and care for their children. Those who grow up in families do better than all other situations in which they might find themselves. God was right. It is very good indeed.

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Concordia Theological Seminary
Fort Wayne, Indiana

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