1. God always makes Advanced Planning to cleanse or atone for our sins

 I wrote in the previous post that God knew in advance that Abraham had sinned and made an advanced atonement for him. Is this scriptural? Yes. God knows all things from before the beginning. This is why the God Family  prophetically designated a Plan of Salvation before the Foundation of the World in which Jesus featured as the Lamb slain for our sins (Eph 1: 14; 1 Pet 1: 20; Rev 13: 8; Rev 17: 8).

2.  God prophetically TIMED Abraham’s advanced offering in order to paint a picture of the  stages of  human sin.

God commanded Abraham to lay the animals on the altar and to divide them into two (except for the birds). However, there was a prophetic timing and sequencing of  events before the sacrifice was actually burnt after the sun went down:

  • The  fowls or ravenous birds came down on the carcases and Abraham drove them away (Gen 15: 11). The fowls or ravenous birds represent the demons in the Parable of the Sower that snatch away the Prophetic Word away.  Note that it is still “day” and Abraham could see spiritually.  
  • When the sun was going down, a deep sleep and a horror of great darkness fell on Abraham.  The sunset symbolized the deep sleep, horror and darkness of sin that entered Abraham’s life after he married Hagar.  God twinned this event with the prophesy about the 400 year enslavement of  Abraham’s  descendants in a foreign land and their release with great wealth. What was the land? Egypt. Why? Hagar and Ishmael were Egyptians and 4 generations of Jews would have to make up for Abraham’s sin. Note that God did not tell Abraham the name of the place or he would have interceded. God apologized to Ishmael. By reading between the lines, we know that God was angry because of  Abraham’s sin. Abraham’s sin was so great that it broke the fellowship and God did not appear to Abraham again until he was 99 years (13 years after Ishmael’s birth). 
  • Meantime, the Amorites would continue to sin to the fullest during the 400 year period (Gen 15: 12 – 16). 
  • After the sun went down and it was dark, a smoking furnace or oven and burning flame passed between the pieces on the altar. This represented the destruction of the carcases  with fire and the offering of the sacrifice for sin. Sunset prophetically represents the mourning  (Isa 60: 20); shame, confusion (Jeremiah 15: 9) and lack of revelation (Micah 3: 6) that would take place over the next 13 years of Abraham’s life and during the period of  exile in Egypt.

 

3. Why was the 400 year enslavement of the Jews linked with the deep sleep and horror of great darkness?

 Under God’s Legal System, people are required to make up to another person when they deprive them of a possession. Human Legal systems follow this same order. In this situation, God had never intended for Ishmael to carry on the Covenant made with Abraham. However, Ishmael was Abraham’s firstborn son and legally entitled to inherit all of his possessions from a human standpoint.  God could not allow this to happen, however, because He HAD ALREADY SWORN TO ABRAHAM that his and Sarah’s son would be heir of the Covenant. God had to cause the Jews to make it up to Ishmael by making them serve the  Egyptians for 400 years.

5. The Jews have already made up for Ishmael’s deprivation

Abraham’s descendants spent 400 years of slavery in Egypt to make up for Ishmael being deprived of the possessions that hei should have received from Abraham as h’s first son. However, God never planned for any polygamy, much less an Ishmael, so he had to  cancel this human error by restoring the birthright and the inheritance of the Covenant to Isaac.  In order to avoid centuries of unjust accusation from people who did not obey His Word, He had to let the Jews make up to Ishmael by serving the Egyptians.

They did so for 400 years.  How did they make  up to Ishmael?

a.  The period between Abraham’s birth to the entry of the Jews into Egypt was about 290 years

b. That makes the entry of the Jews into Egypt about 2238 (Abraham was born in 1948 according to scriptures;  Isaac about 2048 and Jacob in 2108. Jacob entered Egypt in 2238 when he was 130 years in 2238  (the second year of the famine).

c. About 6000 years of earth – 2238 = 3762 years from the entry into Egypt.

d. 400/3762 X 100 = 10%. The Jews spent a tithe of earth time being afflicted in Egypt. This is fair to God. 

e. 2238 + 430 = 2668. Back then they spent 14% of  earth time in Egypt.

Blessings.