The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1894-01-31

1 VI
l. Now, the lord had said unto Abram,
| Get thee out Of thy country, and from
| thy kindred, and from thy fathers
| house, unto a land that / will show
| thee" We have come down the stream
of time over 400 years since the last
lesson After the deluge God bengan
the race again with Noah and his sons,
but as before, man left TO himself proves
failure. Noah is drunken, Ham brings
a curse upon Canaan and iniquity con-
summaries in an organized union against
| God. Lest they be scattered and TO
make them a name, they Will build
| tower reaching to the skies. At the close
| Of the nineteenth century we find our
| selves in an age of tower building and
man worship, but as the Lord confound-
( ed and scattered them in the plain of
| Shinar, so again when all Shinar asso-
| Citations shall have had their consumma-
| ton as in Zech. V, II; Rev. xvii and
xviii, the Lord will humble all the pride
| Of man, and He alone be exalted in that
day Osa. ii. II. 10. After the Babel
| Judgment it seems from Josh. vxiv, 2,
that the people fell greatly into idolatry,
and from such surroundings i'm the land
| of Mesopotamia, the God Of glory called
out Abram acts Vii, p 10 make Of him
| faithful witness unto the truth. A
| study o. Gen. xi VIII show that Shem,
Arphaxed. Salah, Eber, Rem and Serug
We're all living when Abram and Terah
left Ur Of the Chaldees, but whether
every one had become an idolator or not
is not clearly stated. The new depart
ure now is that instead of destroying
or scattering them He will take out and
| separate one from them who will walk
with Him as Enoch did. 1t was a mis-
take to take Terah along, for Abram
was only hindered by him until he died
at Haran xxi, 81, 80; Acts vii, 3, A..
2 "And I will make of thee a great ma
| ton and 1 viii bless thee and make thy
| name great. and thou shalt be a bless
ing" The people of Shinar wanted TO
make themselves a name xxi. ~, but Je-
| hovah says TO Abraham that He will
make him a name. Those who today
try the Shinar plan will fail as they
| did, but those who, like Abram, prefer
to obey God will have a name without
| seeking il. Abram was to be blessed in
order 10 be a blessing, and Israel is
| destined yet TO be a blessing to all ma
tions Czech. viii, 49,. When we are will
| ing to be a blessing to others and for
getful of ourselves, then we shall indeed
| be blessed But it must be the Lords
doing from first to last, and He must
have the glory.
g. And j will bless them that bless
thee and curse him that curseth thee,
and in thee shall all families of the
earth be blessed" Here is the true idea
OF election as taught in scripture-a
blessing to Others-and whosoever will
| may be elected, for him that cometh will
in nowise be cast out John VI. 80. Who
can possibly find fault with this2 See
also how God takes man into union with
| Himself 1t makes us think of these
| words, "He that heareth you heareth
Me. and he that despiseth you despiseth
Me" duke X. 16). We shall find this
covenant repeated four times after this
| to Abram and once each to Isaac and
| Jacob. making seven i'm all. The full
| ness Of its meaning Is yet to be seen.
a. so Abram departed as the Lord had
spoken unto him, and Lot went with
him, and Abram was seventy and five
years old when he departed out Of
Haran." He went out. not knowing
whittier he went O5eb. Xi. s.. He only
knew that God knew and that the end
| OF it all would be a city which hath foun-
dations whose builder and maker Is God
| QIeb. XII. 10). and with implicit conf
dence in God he went on. He believed
the gospel. and all who believe today will
| be blessed with him Gal ill., s, y and
| made blessing to others.
s. And Abram took Sarah his wife,
and Lot. his brothers son, and all their
substance that they had gathered and
the souls that they had gotten in Haran.
and they went forth 10 go into the land
of Canaan, and into the land of Canaan
| they came" Haran was but in partial
obedience. This is now full obedience.
which, II Is 10 be feared, the Lord gets
| from very few Of us. Many are content
TO be hindered by the affections of those
who will go part Of the way, but not
all the way to the promised land of
whole hearted surrender to God. Yet
Jesus says. He that loveth father or
mother, son or daughter more than Me
| is not worthy Of Me" CMa.th, X. 30.
| g. And Abram passed through the
land into the place OF Cichem, unto the
plain Tor oak of Moreh. And the Ca
mantle was then i'm the land" To the
neighborhood OF Ebll and Gerizim he
came (see Deut. xi. p, 800 full half way
down through the lard. and he saw the
| land filled with people, yet believed that
| God would give il t. him as He had
said. He walked not by sight, but by
faith, and was fully persuaded that what
| God had promised He was able to per-
form Rom. iv, 20. 2D. If we think
more Of the Canaanites than Of God. we
| viii be discouraged. like the ten spies.
The only way Is TO see no man save
| Jesus only (Math. xvii. 81.
7. And the Lord appeared unto Abram
| and said, unto thy seed will L give this
| land. And there he builded an altar
unto the Lord, who appeared unto him"
| We read OF no appearance at Haran and
no new communication for Abram there
| had not done as he had been told. ITO
| him that knoweth to do good and doeth
| Il not, To him IL is sim GAS. ~. I'D.
Therefore il we are not living up to the
| light we have and arc consciously dis
/ obedient we cannot expect any fresh
| revelation of God TO our souls. but to