WORSHIP IN GENESIS:
TWO CLASSES OF WORSHIPERS
The shape of things to come is becoming more sharply focused day by day. Two world movements are aligning themselves for the last great conflict: the “beast” of Revelation 13 (same as the little horn of the fourth beast of Daniel 7), versus the third angel’s message of Revelation 14:6-12. Those who accept the latter will worship the Lamb, the Christ of the cross who by His sacrifice “tasted death for every man.” And those who worship the beast and his image will worship self. The self-righteousness of the old covenant will be the worship of the beast, and the imputed and imparted righteousness of Christ will be the worship of the Lamb. One will be faith in the promises of God, the other will be the “righteousness” of human promises. One will appreciate the breadth, depth, length and height of “the agape of Christ which passeth knowledge” (Eph. 3:14-21), and the other will become a false view of the cross, a counterfeit misrepresentation of the gospel which will be the worship of a false “christ.” And so clever will the deceptions be that “if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect” (Mt. 24:24). We are told by an inspired prediction that in that final hour “a great proportion” of those who “now appear to be genuine” will “betray sacred trusts,” and take their side with the avowed enemies of the truth (5T 136).
If a picture is worth a thousand words, there we have it: this is agape, and “God is agape” (1 Jn. 4:8). No other being in the wide universe of the heavenly or earthly cosmos has ever made such a Sacrifice! Any “other god” is therefore an anti-agape “god.” That means, to worship any “lesser god” is to worship Satan himself. No, God, our heavenly Father, our Saviour and Redeemer, is not divinely selfish-refusing to share His throne with “lesser gods.” He knows that to worship any “other god” means death to us; and He loves us too much to allow that. The final crisis of earth’s history will be a challenge to “worship the Lamb” alone, or to worship Baal. All worship of self which is disguised as the worship of “christ” is Baal-worship. Time to think!
The gospel of Jesus Christ is totally different than any other religion that has ever existed on earth. In fact, all other religions are in some way counterfeits of the original religion revealed by the one true God. The counterfeits all have one common denominator principle: you win the favor of God (or of the gods) by your works, by your obedience, by the good things that you do or that you sacrifice. In contrast, the gospel of Jesus Christ is a revelation of what God has done and is doing for us, and worship therefore consists of simply beholding, contemplating, understanding, appreciating the character of this one true God. “Look unto Me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth,” God says (Isa. 45:22). The serpent is lifted up on a pole so that the stricken Israelites could simply look and be healed (Num. 21:9). John says, “Behold what manner of love (AGAPE) the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God” (1 Jn. 3:1).
People criticize such a religion—you just LOOK and you’re saved?! That’s silly! But yes, that’s indeed what the Bible teaches. Paul says that just by looking, sinners are changed, converted: “We all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory . . . by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Cor. 3:18). You can imagine how Satan hates such a religion as that!
But what is it that we are to look at, to behold? The answer is: the cross of Christ. Jesus said, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life” (Jn. 3:14, 15). There is where the agape is revealed for us to “behold.” Paul says it is our privilege to “comprehend” the amazing dimensions of that agape (Eph. 3:14-21).
In this story we are dealing with two kinds of “worshippers”. The first player is Cain, a farmer. His younger brother, Abel, is a shepherd. As the story unfolds, each brother brings an offering to the Lord. They both worshiped the true God. They both were members of the same church.
Gen. 4:3: “And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD.”
“The class of worshipers who follow the example of Cain includes by far the greater portion of the world; for nearly every false religion has been based on the same principle—that man can depend upon his own efforts for salvation.” (PP 73). “Cain, disregarding the Lord’s direct and explicit command, presented only an offering of fruit” (PP 71). “He chose the course of self-dependence. He would come in his own merits. He would not bring the lamb, and mingle its blood with his offering, but would present his fruits, the products of his labor” (PP 72).
Gen. 4:4: “And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering:”
“Abel grasped the great principles of redemption. He saw himself a sinner, and he saw sin and its penalty, death, standing between his soul and communion with God. He brought the slain victim, the sacrificed life, thus acknowledging the claims of the law that had been transgressed. Through the shed blood he looked to the future sacrifice, Christ dying on the cross of Calvary; and trusting in the atonement that was there to be made, he had the witness that he was righteous, and his offering accepted” (PP 72).
Gen. 4:5: “But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.”
Gen. 4:6: “And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?”
Gen. 4:7: “If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door.”
Have you ever tried to carry a hundred-pound bag of cement on your back? It’s quite a burden! If you’re struggling under such a weight it is hard to smile and laugh at the same time. The physical body has its weights to carry; but the heart also has its burdens. And no burden that the heart can carry is heavier than the nagging fear that God is against you, that He rejects you or at best, ignores you, does not accept you.
When Cain brought his offering of fresh fruits and vegetables and flowers to lay on the altar, we read that God “had not respect unto his offering”; and as a consequence, Cain’s countenance “was fallen” (Gen. 4:5, 6). He began carrying the heart-burden so many try to carry until this day.
We know what Cain’s problem was: he was trying to find acceptance with God by the good works he was doing. And he was a great farmer! Any Farmer’s Market or State Fair today would have been dazzled to see his “offering” that day. It represented the very finest, most patient and hard-working horticultural skill and devotion possible! But Cain’s problem was his “work;” his problem was his strict obedience to the commandment of God when He told Adam and Eve, “cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life . . . Thou shalt eat the herb of the field; in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread” (3:17-19).
Hadn’t Cain sweated as he did just that? He was happy as a lark when he brought his “offering” to the altar that day, rejoicing in his “obedience,” positive that God would reward him for his “works,” but disappointed when God ignored it. What Cain missed was simple heart-appreciation for the shed blood of the Lamb of God; his problem was “unbelief,” a failure to appreciate what it cost the Son of God to save him. Let’s learn the lesson!
Gen. 8:20: “And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.”
“In the joy of their release Noah did not forget Him by whose gracious care they had been preserved. His first act after leaving the ark was {106} to build an altar and offer from every kind of clean beast and fowl a sacrifice, thus manifesting his gratitude to God for deliverance and his faith in Christ, the great sacrifice. This offering was pleasing to the Lord; and a blessing resulted, not only to the patriarch and his family, but to all who should live upon the earth. ‘The Lord smelled a sweet savor; and the Lord said in His heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake. . . . While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.’ Here was a lesson for all succeeding generations. Noah had come forth upon a desolate earth, but before preparing a house for himself he built an altar to God. His stock of cattle was small, and had been preserved at great expense; yet he cheerfully gave a part to the Lord as an acknowledgment that all was His. In like manner it should be our first care to render our freewill offerings to God. Every manifestation of His mercy and love toward us should be gratefully acknowledged, both by acts of devotion and by gifts to His cause” (PP 105).
Abram came from a place called Ur of the Chaldeans, a city in ancient Sumer, of the lower Mesopotamian region. This whole area was known for its many massive temples, dedicated to the worship of numerous pagan gods and goddesses. In Ur, Joshua 24:2 tells us, Abram’s father “worshiped other gods” (NIV). The Talmud indicates that he, in fact, worshipped no fewer than twelve deities.
By the time we meet Abram, he has already established himself as a follower of the only true God, something unheard-of in his polytheistic culture. And though fiercely loyal to his family, he broke away from their false deities and dedicated himself to worshipping the Lord—Yahweh.
“Thus far [Haran] his father's family accompanied him, for with their idolatry they united the worship of the true God” (PP 127). “Abram left Haran as the Lord had told him . . . Abram was 75 years old” (v. 4). Abram believed. Faith is central to worship. In fact, the first way we express love to God is through faith in His call. In believing God’s orders, Abram proved his love and devotion—he, in fact, worshipped.
Arriving in Canaan Abram observed idolatry: “But to the worshiper of Jehovah, a heavy shadow rested upon wooded hill and fruitful plain. ‘The Canaanite was then in the land.’ Abraham had reached the goal of his hopes to find a country occupied by an alien race and overspread with idolatry. In the groves were set up the altars of false gods, and human sacrifices were offered upon the neighboring heights” (PP 128).
Gen. 12:2: “And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:”
The most precious New Covenant is the out and out promise of God that “thou shalt be a blessing” as well as receive a blessing from Him (Gen. 12:1-3). In other words, to the one who like Abraham “gets out of [his] country, and from [his] father’s house, unto a land that [God] will shew [him],” in other words gets out of “Babylon,” God’s solemn promise is that he/she will always bring happiness to someone else. Giving it will be much more fun that getting it!
A vegetable like existence in immortality is not the goal; to “Be a blessing” requires an active mind and a warm heart plus a knowledge of God as the Giver of Good News for every human soul. Abraham believed those New Covenant promises in Genesis 12; now as a child of Abraham, you have inherited them. That means you are a stream of living water or at least a rivulet of it, however tiny; the little fountain deep in your inmost soul will never run dry (see John 7:37-39).
Gen. 12:3: “And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.”
Satan’s basic temptations are always based on a common denominator: Unbelief of God’s promises. And the remedy for them, the means to overcome is always: To believe God’s promises. That’s the core message of the Bible, and you can’t imagine how zealous Satan is to shake our confidence in what it says. And how stupid we humans are to go on believing what Satan says instead of what God says.
Here are the promises, seven of them, that God made to Abraham (when he was still called Abram). By virtue of Christ's sacrifice, you have become a child of Abraham, so the same promises apply to you (they’re in Gen 12:1-3): (1) “I will make you a great nation”—that is, an important, respected person. (2) “I will bless thee” (the word means make you happy). (3) “I will . . . make thy name great,” in other words, He will make you worthy of people’s high respect. (4) “Thou shalt be a blessing,” that is, you’ll make other people happy. (5) “I will bless them that bless thee.” God will honor you like someone special. (6) “I will . . . curse him that curseth thee.” Oh yes, you’ll have enemies, probably plenty of them; but God will confound every one of them and will honor you. (7) “In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed [made happy forever].” A promise that Christ would come through Abraham’s descendants, but a promise to you that you will share with Christ the joy of telling the world about Him.
How did Abraham, respond? Well, he stumbled and staggered for many years, unable to believe such fantastic Good News. But finally he broke through the clouds: “And Abraham believed in the Lord, and it was counted unto him for righteousness” (15:6). The sooner you believe like he did, the better!
Gen. 12:8: “And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east: and there he builded an altar unto the LORD, and called upon the name of the LORD.”
Why doesn’t God destroy our wicked world now? There is an answer in the Old Testament sacrificial system:
(a) Two lambs were offered “daily” on the altar of burnt offering, morning and evening, in behalf of everyone within the boundaries of Israel. “Strangers” and Gentiles were included as the beneficiaries. No repentance was required, no confession; no questions were asked; the lambs were “offered continually,” whether anybody believed or not (Ex. 29:38-42). All you had to do was to be a human being, and you were under the umbrella of God’s abounding grace.
(b) This was the gospel by “moonlight” (Rev. 12:1). As we come to the “sunlight” of the New Testament, the meaning is made clear: “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself” (2 Cor. 5:19). “God has encircled the whole world with an atmosphere of grace as real as the air [we breathe]” (Steps to Christ, p. 68). The daily service of the two lambs was a ministry for the whole world. When Jesus came to John asking for baptism, he refused. Jesus had to give him a Bible study there in the water, convincing John that He was the antitypical Lamb of the daily service. “Then he suffered Him” (Matt. 3:15).
(c) The next day John introduced Him, saying, “Behold the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). Not “maybe,” “perhaps,” or “He would like to be,” or “He takes away the sin of a few.” Why this universal sacrifice of atonement? “He is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:2).
Gen. 22:5: “And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.”
Gen. 22:8: “And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.”
Gen. 22:9: “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.”
Gen. 22:10: “And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.”
Gen. 22:11: “And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.”
Gen. 22:12: “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.”
We cannot leave Abraham without seeing him through his grand final victory. It is true that he had failed miserably in his (and Sarah’s) unbelief that let them fall into the Old Covenant. While God had given them the New Covenant promise of having a “child of promise” (Isaac), they had disbelieved and assumed they must “work,” themselves, to help fulfill it—hence, Hagar and Ishmael (Paul says they are the Old Covenant! See Gal. 4:22-25).
Finally, after decades of heart-bitterness even while they were having daily family worship and doing their Sabbath-keeping, Sarah allowed her unbelieving heart to be melted in repentance (see Heb. 11:11). Let the gynecologists argue it out: her new and different feelings about God made it possible for her to get pregnant, and “by faith Sarah received strength to conceive.” All this time, they were “one flesh” and so Abraham shared the repentance with her.
Isaac came, well named—“laughter.” Grew to be a most delightful teen, the joy of their hearts.
Then the bomb, when Abraham was old and weak: the same voice of God that had made the promises now told him to offer the beloved son as a sacrifice on a hill to be known as Calvary (Gen. 22:1, 2). The years of bonding went further than if he’d been told to do this when Isaac was a baby. Sarah couldn’t take it. Father roused Isaac, left without telling her goodbye (vs. 3).
That three-day journey was the longest and saddest Abraham had ever taken. But when puzzled Isaac quizzed him, he expressed no Old Covenant despair as we would do probably. Instead: “My son, God will provide Himself a lamb.”
A shining tribute to “Christian education”: Isaac then joined in the willingness of the sacrifice. He had learned to believe the New Covenant promises.
Note: Abraham didn’t actually kill Isaac with his knife—but he made the full commitment to make the sacrifice. “You have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me,” said God” (vs. 12). It reflected Christ’s cross. Christ didn’t go into the literal Lake of Fire, but He made the full commitment, and thus He died the equivalent of our second death. (Let’s say “Thank You!”)
Gen. 22:13: “And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.”
Gen. 22:15: “And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time,”
Gen. 22:16: “And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son:”
Gen. 22:17: “That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies.”
Gen. 22:18: “And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.”
Gen. 28:11: “And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep.”
Gen. 28:12: “And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.”
“Ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man” (John 1:51). “The ladder represents Jesus, the appointed medium of communication. Had He not with His own merits bridged the gulf that sin had made, the ministering angels could have held no communion with fallen man. Christ connects man in his weakness and helplessness with the source of infinite power” (PP 184).
Young people especially wrestle with the constant temptation to doubt and fear for their future, afraid that they are not accepted by God, conscious of their sinfulness and hesitant to believe that God can really bless them.
The Bible says that everyone who will be saved at last is a child of Jacob; frequently the Lord addresses His people as “O house of Jacob” (cf. Isa. 2:5 etc). I don’t know that any of us are better than Jacob, whose name was Supplanter, someone who was so self-centered that he wanted to get ahead even from his birth. If you think you were better than that from your birth, well, you probably don’t know your own heart. The life story of Jacob will be encouraging for you to study.
Here was a man who felt God-forsaken that night when he tried to sleep with a stone for his pillow (Gen. 28:20-22). He knew he had sinned; he was keenly conscious of his unworthiness (we are, too!); yet the Lord tried to assure him of a ladder from heaven to earth right where he was, with angels of God ascending and descending on it to help him. Jacob sometimes had trouble remembering that dream, just like sometimes you have trouble remembering God’s goodness to you; Jacob had plenty of disappointments and sorrows, and he had to spend a whole night wrestling with the Lord in prayer. But his name was changed from Jacob to Israel. And so will your name be changed! Please accept some encouragement from the story of your “father” Jacob.
Gen. 28:13: “And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed;”
Gen. 28:14: “And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.”
Gen. 28:15: “And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.”
Gen. 28:16: “And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not.”
Gen. 28:17: “And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”
Gen. 28:18: “And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it.”
Gen. 28:19: “And he called the name of that place Bethel: but the name of that city was called Luz at the first.”
Gen. 28:22: “And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God’s house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee.”
