Abraham saved Lot three times: first, he brings him from the land of Haran to the Promised Land; second, he rescues him when he was taken captive by the kings of the North; third, he intercedes for him when Sodom is about to be destroyed.  Through these three events, we see the operation of the Trinity in our own salvation.   continue

Genesis 37:3 - “Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons” 

Joseph was the favorite son of his father; Jesus received repeated affirmations from His Heavenly Father, in a voice from above saying, “This is my Son whom I love; listen to him.”  In the stories about Joseph, we see three reasons that Jacob, his father, loved him more than his brothers.  The first was that Joseph was “Born to him in his old age.”  Applied to Jesus, the term “old age” or “many years” speaks of Eternity.  The Father is older than time – He is eternal, and Jesus is also eternal.  The Father’s love for Jesus starts with the fact that Jesus and the Father are one – from Eternity past. 

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Genesis 41:46-49 - Joseph was thirty years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh king of Egypt.  And Joseph went out from Pharaoh’s presence and traveled throughout Egypt. During the seven years of abundance, the land produced plentifully.  Joseph collected all the food produced in those years of abundance in Egypt and stored it in the cities.  In each city he put the food grown in the fields surrounding it.  Joseph stored up huge quantities of grain, like the sand of the sea; it was so much that he stopped keeping records because it was beyond measure.

 This is a picture of what Jesus has done for us.  He has provided everything we need for walking in salvation, to have eternal life.  No one can ever exhaust the resources Christ makes available for those who are walking in his revelation.

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Genesis 46:30 - ”Now I am ready to die, because I have seen for myself that you are still alive…”

Jacob makes this statement when he sees his son Joseph for the first time in many years – after thinking Joseph had been dead all along.  It was the expression of Jacob’s extreme relief and sense of fulfillment that his beloved son was alive and well, according to God’s wonderful plan. 

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Genesis 48:5 - ”Now then, your two sons born to you in Egypt before I came to you here will be reckoned as mine; Ephraim and Manasseh will be mine, just as Reuben and Simeon are mine…” 

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“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.  Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.  For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”  - Colossians 3:1-4

One of the distinctive elements of Paul’s writings was his focus on eternity.  People today often think of the Apostle Paul as a great teacher or theologian, or as a successful church planter, or even as a person who performed impressive miracles.  All these things are true, but when we look at what Paul himself considered the most important, the defining element is that he kept his eyes fixed on eternity, not on material things. 

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John 1:1-5, 14 - “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him, all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it . . . The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth....”

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John 1:1-5, 14 - “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him, all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it . . . The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth...”

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Numbers 13:23-25 -“When they reached the Valley of Eshcol, they cut off a branch bearing a single cluster of grapes.  Two of them carried it on a pole between them, along with some pomegranates and figs.  That place was called the Valley of Eshcol because of the cluster of grapes the Israelites cut off there [Eshcol means "cluster"].  At the end of forty days they returned from exploring the land.”

In this story, Moses sent twelve scouts or “spies” into the Promised Land.  We usually remember this story because of its sad ending – only two of these men returned with a good report about the Promised Land, confident that God would help the Israelites settle there.  The other ten insisted that it was hopeless and incited the people to refuse to enter the Promised Land, which led to their forty years of wandering in the desert as punishment.  The New Testament repeatedly applies this story to our Christian lives (see 1 Corinthians 10:10-12; Hebrews 3:12-19; Jude 1:5).  Eternity is our Promised Land that we must enter.  The fruit mentioned in this passage is prophetic, pointing forward to God’s plan of salvation that transforms our lives today.

John 14:6 - “Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.’”  

THE LIFE – Jesus is the LIFE.  He gives us Life from Himself, for by his own existence He is the LIFE.  Before anything else existed, He was there (this is one reason it does not make much sense to celebrate his birthday, or the day he died – because he was alive before the world began, and is still alive today).  Everything else that exists does so only at His will, depending on Him for life each moment.  “He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”  (Colossians 1:17).  “For in him we live and move and have our being.”  (Acts 17:28).  God has a project for man, since the beginning of creation, and this project is to give every person eternal life.  Jesus is the means by which God wants to reveal this eternal life to all of those who believe in him.  

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