God has been blamed for that which the devil has done, that which man has done, that which man and devil have done together. Many of God’s children have thought they were on the path of the divine will of God when they were not. The Lord came to me and said He was not going to take the blame in this final hour for that which He had not done. He said that in the past He has taken the blame; even His own people have blamed Him for things He did not do. The Lord is introducing Himself in all living reality in the Word of God in this last and final hour.

Angels in Action

And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose (Genesis 6:1,2). Some cannot believe that the sons of God mentioned here were angels, but they were. They had come down to Earth in that wicked time before the flood. There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown (verse 4). Who else could the sons of God have been but angels? The children born from these unions were special, famous, intelligent beyond the ordinary. God brought a halt to these relationships, evidently after the flood, but not because sin was involved.

People find the idea of angels marrying women to be incredible, but let’s check, find out what angels were like at the time of Genesis.

In the eighteenth chapter of Genesis we read that Abraham lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground, And said, My Lord, if now I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant: Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree (Genesis 18:2-4). These three strangers are really angels, but they are called men, and they’re acting just like men. They wash their feet and rest under a tree. And I will fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort ye your hearts; after that ye shall pass on: for therefore are ye come to your servant. And they said, So do, as thou hast said (verse 5). Abraham didn’t know he was dealing with angels; they looked like men to him. And Abraham hastened into the tent unto Sarah, and said, Make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes upon the hearth. And Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetcht a calf tender and good, and gave it unto a young man; and he hasted to dress it. And he took butter, and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat (verses 6-8). Angels talked to Abraham; they ate food just like human beings. In later years it seems that God changed the bodies of angels. That should not be surprising since the Lord is going to change our bodies, too.

I’ve seen angels many times. An angel as tall as a man stands by my side in every service. Angels have eyes just like humans, but their eyes are pools of peace, making one think of the eyes of Jesus. They carry peace and love.

The Lord has different orders of angels. Some in Heaven may have wings, but the angels that came to Abraham didn’t have wings. I’ve seen angels rejoicing over the congregation of the people I’m ministering to. The glory of the Lord is so great it looks at times as though they do have wings, but as I search into the cloud of glory, I see they don’t really have wings. Angels carry much glory of God with them.

The only winged angelic being that I’ve ever seen was a little cherub. One Sunday morning there he was, small and winged, beautiful, kneeling at the altar. His wings were the whitest white I had ever seen. A number of years have passed, and I can still see him in my mind’s eye, how breathtaking he was. I was amazed. Imagine, being at the altar, praying and opening your eyes to see an angelic being, so small, so tiny, so beautiful!

The angels that visited Abraham asked, Where is Sarah thy wife? And he said, Behold, in the tent. And he said, I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age; and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also (Genesis 18:9-12)? Sarah didn’t know an angel was speaking. She thought he was just a man who had dropped in for a visit. She had prepared a meal for the angels, and they were eating. They were clothed like men. Do you see why angels could have taken human girls as wives?

And the LORD said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, which am old? Is any thing too hard for the LORD (Genesis 18:13,14)? Some of you don’t believe God can do what looks impossible. To believe God can do a good thing but won’t do it is an offense to God. Saying that He loves you with an unending love, promises to take care of you and yet won’t do it, is an insult.

The angel continued, At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son. Then Sarah denied, saying, I laughed not; for she was afraid. And he said, Nay; but thou didst laugh. And the men rose up from thence [the angels are called men], and looked toward Sodom: and Abraham went with them to bring them on the way (Genesis 18:14-16). When the angels reach Sodom, they are called both men and angels.

And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do; Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him (Genesis 18:17-19). God put great trust in Abraham and his household, but his household went away from God. God did not look into Abraham’s future to see what his seed would do. God doesn’t look into your future when you come to the altar to check whether you will backslide. He could look, but He refuses to look. He trusts you to serve him.

And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know (Genesis 18:20,21). The Lord Himself would go down. He is interested in people. The Lord visits this planet Earth again and again. Leaving His throne and coming down here, He walks the earth.

And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the LORD. And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein (Genesis 18:22-24)? Abraham is talking to the Lord; Abraham knew the Lord. God talked to Abraham in an audible voice. The Lord said He would spare Sodom for the sake of fifty righteous. Abraham was afraid there would not be that many. What about forty-five? he asked. All right, the Lord said. Abraham had another chill. He went down the list: How about forty? thirty? twenty? Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten’s sake. And the LORD went his way, as soon as he had left communing with Abraham: and Abraham returned unto his place (verses 32,33).

And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground; And he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant’s house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your ways. And they said, Nay; but we will abide in the street all night (Genesis 19:1,2). Lot thought the angels were just men. He couldn’t tell the difference. Lot showed the spirit of humility in not turning the strangers away.

We live in a different day; strangers now could be dangerous. If you invite a stranger into your house, you’d better be sure it’s an angel.

Lot pressed his invitation, and the angels came into the house, ate and prepared for bed. But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter: And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them (Genesis 19:4,5). Sodom was full of homosexuals who wanted the men. They didn’t know they were angels.

Lot went out at the door unto them, and shut the door after him, And said, I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly. Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man (Genesis 19:6-8). Lot had such respect for the strangers that he would have traded them for his two daughters. Let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof. And they said, Stand back. And they said again, This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge: now will we deal worse with thee, than with them. And they pressed sore upon the man, even Lot, and came near to break the door. But the men [the angels] put forth their hand, and pulled Lot into the house to them, and shut to the door. And they smote the men that were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great: so that they wearied themselves to find the door (verses 8-11). Blinding them proves the men in Lot’s house were supernatural—angels.

They are again called men: And the men said unto Lot, Hast thou here any besides? son in law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this place (Genesis 19:12). Lot had more than two daughters, but only two were virgins. We don’t know how many married sons and daughters Lot left behind. Lot ran out to warn his sons-in-law, but they thought he mocked them. The two virgin daughters were the only children who went out of Sodom with Lot.

Did the Lord through His angels destroy Sodom and Gomorrah? Absolutely. The angels said, We will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the LORD; and the LORD hath sent us to destroy it (Genesis 19:13).

The cry on Earth today is “waxen great” before the Lord once again. God is getting ready to destroy. This civilization cannot continue on its current path much longer.

And when the morning arose, then the angels [here they are called angels, not men] hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city. And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the LORD being merciful unto him: and they brought him forth, and set him without the city. And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed (Genesis 19:15-17).

Lot pleaded for a place to go other than the mountain; he suggested a little city. The Lord said to him, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow this city, for the which thou hast spoken (Genesis 19:21). They entered the little city of Zoar. Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven; And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground. But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt (verses 24-26).

This really happened. Sin brought about this destruction. God is not to blame for sin, for people indulging in sin, sin, sin. Man brought destruction on himself—with the help of the devil. All good and perfect gifts come from the Lord, but the judgment He uses is not a part of His heart. God is love. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights (James 1:17).

And Abraham gat up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the LORD: And he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace (Genesis 19:27,28). The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah is on the same order as the coming destruction we read of in the Book of Revelation.

God Is Not Responsible for Decisions of Men

Many have not understood the passage in Genesis of Lot’s two daughters becoming pregnant by their own father. This was not the divine will of God, but the will of two girls thinking they were the only ones left in the world and they must save their father’s seed. They didn’t do it through lust; therefore, God did not destroy them. These people were people of free choice just as we are today. You can live for God, or you can live a degraded, sinful life. You are a person of choice.

And the firstborn said unto the younger, Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in unto us after the manner of all the earth: Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father. And they made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose. And it came to pass on the morrow, that the firstborn said unto the younger, Behold, I lay yesternight with my father: let us make him drink wine this night also; and go thou in, and lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father (Genesis 19:31-34). I say again, this was their decision. God didn’t move on them to do this; He didn’t have a thing to do with it. God takes no responsibility for this whatsoever.

Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father. And the firstborn bare a son, and called his name Moab: the same is the father of the Moabites unto this day. And the younger, she also bare a son, and called his name Benammi: the same is the father of the children of Ammon unto this day (Genesis 19:36-38). The Moabites and Ammonites brought much trouble to God’s people. A course was begun which would ensure sorrow, heartache and great enemies for Abraham’s seed. Lot’s two girls missed the will of God.

Some people think all of Genesis is the divine will of God, but not so. Much of it is man and the devil plotting and planning together, people using their own opinions and not seeking the divine will of God. God has a divine will and a permissible will. Many Christians live only in His permissible will. They walk the paths that God will permit, but paths that are not His divine will for them to walk. Then they blame God for their troubles, heartaches and sorrows. They don’t commit sin—even a tiny sin—on that permissible path, but they cannot be used of God, and He cannot move the way He wants.

When you walk the divine paths of God, He can speak through and use you one hundred percent for His work the way He wants, any place, any time. In the permissible will of God, not so. Jesus came and walked the divine paths of the Father. He made footsteps for us, paths for our feet so we could follow Him in His divine will.

Did Abraham Lie?

The Book of Genesis reveals lies and deceit. It looks as though Abraham is lying when he said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister: and Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah (Genesis 20:2). Sarah was beautiful, and Abimelech took her right under his wing. God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said, Behold, thou art but a dead man, for the woman which thou hast taken; for she is a man’s wife. But Abimelech had not come near her: and he said, Lord, wilt thou slay also a righteous nation? Said he not unto me, She is my sister? and she, even she herself said, He is my brother: in the integrity of my heart and innocency of my hands have I done this. And God said unto him in a dream, Yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart; for I also withheld thee from sinning against me: therefore suffered I thee not to touch her. Now therefore restore the man his wife; for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live: and if thou restore her not, know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou, and all that are thine (verses 3-7).

Abraham didn’t lie; he just didn’t tell the whole truth. Yet there was some deceit there. Abraham wasn’t always the vessel God wanted. God had to humble him and work on him. Abraham excused himself: I thought, Surely the fear of God is not in this place; and they will slay me for my wife’s sake. And yet indeed she is my sister; she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife (Genesis 20:11,12).

Abimelech was irritated with Sarah, and he said to her, Behold, I have given thy brother a thousand pieces of silver: behold, he is to thee a covering of the eyes, unto all that are with thee, and with all other: thus she was reproved (Genesis 20:16). Even after the facts were explained, Abimelech called Abraham Sarah’s brother.

So Abraham prayed unto God: and God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maidservants; and they bare children. For the LORD had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah Abraham’s wife (Genesis 20:17,18). God believes in birth control; He has ordered it again and again.

A New Mom—at Ninety!

Abraham knew he had been promised a son, but the years flew by—and no son. Sarah passed her child-bearing years; she was seventy-six, and it was hard for Abraham to keep on expecting a son by her. Sarah got ahead of God, suggested that Abraham have a child by Hagar her handmaiden. God had promised a son to Abraham and Sarah, but they didn’t wait for the promise.

Let this be a lesson to you. Many get ahead of God, not waiting for the fulfillment of the promise. God may tell people something, but when time passes by, they decide God won’t honor His Word, and they strike out on their own.

Hagar, feeling superior in her pregnancy, mocked Sarah. Sarah came to Abraham with the problem and he told her to do what she wanted. Sarah dealt so harshly with Hagar that she ran off. The Lord appeared to her in the wilderness, gave her comfort, told her what would happen in the future, that He was with her and she should go back. She obeyed, and her son Ishmael was born in the tents of Abraham.

When Sarah was ninety years old, and Abraham one hundred, the promise to them of a son was fulfilled at last. And Abraham was an hundred years old, when his son Isaac was born unto him. And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me (Genesis 21:5,6). Sarah had laughed in mockery when she heard the angels foretell the birth of her son; but now she laughed with joy.

And the child grew, and was weaned: and Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned. And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham, mocking. Wherefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac. And the thing was very grievous in Abraham’s sight because of his son. And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called. And also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he is thy seed (Genesis 21:8-13). Isaac and Ishmael’s seed fight today. They can never live together. The conflict is still going on in the Holy Land. Had people not failed God, we would not have all this trouble.

Never Forget God’s Promises

And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away: and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba. And the water was spent in the bottle, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs. And she went, and sat her down over against him a good way off, as it were a bowshot: for she said, Let me not see the death of the child (Genesis 21:14-16). Hagar had forgotten God’s promise to her that Ishmael would be the father of such a multitude that it could not be numbered. Forgetting God’s promises brings trouble to all who get ahead of God. The Bride will remember the promises of God, saith the Lord. That is what will make her strong, give her the might of His power and strength to evangelize the world, the reason she will be the hands and eyes of God, the voice of God in this her final walk.

And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is. Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand; for I will make him a great nation (Genesis 21:17,18). Two great nations, the Arabs and Jews…I hate to see them at each other’s throats today. And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink. And God was with the lad; and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer. And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran: and his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt (verses 19-21).

A Supreme Test of Faith

The Bible says that God does not tempt man: God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man (James 1:13), yet we read in Genesis 22:1 that God did tempt Abraham. Let’s find out what God is talking about. God didn’t tempt Abraham with evil or sin. He doesn’t tempt that way. God has nothing to do with sin. What God was asking of Abraham was not sin. God tried Abraham’s faith, nothing more; nothing less. God said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of (verse 2). Abraham took his son, who was about twelve years old, and two of his young men, cut the wood for the burnt offering and left on a three-day journey to Mount Moriah. Abraham walked a deep valley those three days; the Lord tried him greatly.

Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off. 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 (Genesis 22:4,5). Notice, Abraham is saying here that both he and his son will come again. He has been through a lot, and his faith is high.

There once was a time Abraham would not have been ready for such a challenge of faith. But through the years God had prepared him, and now the great trial had come.

God gets you ready, and God tries your faith. If He doesn’t, how will you know whether or not it is any good?

And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together (Genesis 22:6). If Abraham had not the faith of God, he could never have gone through this great trial.

And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering (Genesis 22:7)? Notice the love in Abraham’s answer: My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering (verse 8).

Abraham, his faith tested to the limit, bound his son, laid him on the altar and stretched forth his hand to slay him. Imagine how startled and confused Isaac must have been. And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I. 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 (Genesis 22:11,12).

Abraham had gone all the way with God’s request, built the altar, laid on the wood, bound his son and would have slain him had not the angel intervened. How could he do such a thing? The Bible tells us that Abraham knew if he killed his son, God would resurrect him. God had promised a nation from the seed of Isaac, and God cannot lie. By faith Abraham offered Isaac accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure (Hebrews 11:19).

Passing this severe test of faith, Abraham earned the right to be called Father of the Faithful. God’s faith worked through him. Had Abraham this kind of faith in the beginning he would have told Sarah they would wait for the fulfillment of God’s promise. Because he didn’t, much sorrow came their way. Study Abraham; it will help you know your path.

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 (Genesis 22:13).

No Angel Held Back the Hand of Death for Jesus

I see another Father looking at His Son about to be sacrificed. This Son is not climbing Mount Moriah but laboring up Mount Calvary. No ram caught in the thicket here will save this Son. God’s Only Begotten Son will be slain as a sacrificial offering. Imagine Abraham’s mental stress, but look at the torment of our heavenly Father’s ordeal. His Son, unlike Abraham’s son, was horribly mistreated. Only love went with Abraham’s son on the way to be sacrificed. Jesus didn’t have that kind of love; cruel men plucked out His beard, crowned Him with thorns, beat Him. Josephus the historian recorded that birds picked up and carried away pieces of the flesh that had been gouged out by the Roman lash. The scene was so terrible that this Father blocked it out, turned His back until His Son cried through that darkness, My God! My God!—my Father! my Father!—Why hast thou forsaken me! It took all of God’s will not to come down and destroy those who tortured His Son. It took a love that we won’t understand completely even in eternity. We’ll never comprehend all the greatness of God. For trillions of years and more we will learn about Him, our God, our wonderful God.

A Wife for Isaac

Abraham must have loved Sarah deeply. He let her have her way at times that brought sorrow on his own head, his own seed. And Sarah was an hundred and seven and twenty years old: these were the years of the life of Sarah (Genesis 23:1).

All must die—unless they are taken by way of the Rapture. God warned Adam and Eve that in the day they ate of the forbidden fruit they would die. Oh, that they would have believed! You see the same pattern of disobedience all over again in their descendants. Abraham was a very special man, but God had to keep working and working on him.

Isaac was forty years of age now and unmarried. Abraham, old, stricken in age, called his eldest servant of the house and commissioned him to find a wife for Isaac in the country of Abraham’s kindred. Eliezer traveled into Mesopotamia, stood by a well where the daughters of the men of the city came to draw water for their herds.

Abraham had told Eliezer if he found a wife for Isaac and she refused to come with him, then Eliezer would be guiltless. Eliezer, now in a strange land, threw out a fleece. This is the first time we see a definite fleece put out before the Lord. Who gave Eliezer the knowledge to do such a thing? All good knowledge comes from God. Eliezer prayed, And let it come to pass, that the damsel to whom I shall say, Let down thy pitcher, I pray thee, that I may drink; and she shall say, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also: let the same be she that thou hast appointed for thy servant Isaac; and thereby shall I know that thou hast shewed kindness unto my master. And it came to pass, before he had done speaking, that, behold, Rebekah came out, who was born to Bethuel, son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, with her pitcher upon her shoulder. And the damsel was very fair to look upon, a virgin, neither had any man known her: and she went down to the well, and filled her pitcher, and came up. And the servant ran to meet her, and said, Let me, I pray thee, drink a little water of thy pitcher. And she said, Drink, my lord: and she hasted, and let down her pitcher upon her hand, and gave him drink. And when she had done giving him drink, she said, I will draw water for thy camels also (Genesis 24:14-19). Rebekah fit all the requirements Abraham had set forth—and she was beautiful as well.

Eliezer bowed his head and said, Blessed be the LORD God of my master Abraham, who hath not left destitute my master of his mercy and his truth: I being in the way, the LORD led me to the house of my master’s brethren (Genesis 24:27). Eliezer hadn’t known he was at the house of Abraham’s brother; the Lord led him there. Rebekah, a type of the Bride of Christ, received gifts from Eliezer, a type of the Holy Spirit. She alone made the final decision whether to go with Eliezer or stay with her family. Her family wanted her to stay just ten days longer, but she went right away.

And Rebekah arose, and her damsels, and they rode upon the camels, and followed the man: and the servant took Rebekah, and went his way. And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she lighted off the camel (Genesis 24:61,64). That’s how Rebekah met her groom, Isaac. She became his wife, and he loved her.

Deceit Ran in the Family

And Isaac entreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren: and the LORD was entreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived. And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger (Genesis 25:21,23). Esau the first twin was born and then Jacob. The Lord had chosen the younger child to be over the older, and once again trouble would come by people getting ahead of God’s plan.

The boys grew; Esau was a cunning hunter and Jacob a plain man. One day Esau came in from the field very hungry. For a little food, he sold his birthright to Jacob. Many have sold their heavenly birthright for a handful of nothing in the world.

And it came to pass, that when Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he called Esau his eldest son, and said unto him, My son: and he said unto him, Behold, here am I. And he said, Behold now, I am old, I know not the day of my death (Genesis 27:1,2). In those days when the blessing was pronounced, it couldn’t be changed. God recognized the authority of the heads of the families. Rebekah knew the blessing would be permanent, and she wanted her younger son, Jacob, to receive an elder son’s blessing. Rebekah used deceit and caused her favorite son, Jacob, to go into deceit, also. And Rebekah spake unto Jacob her son, saying, Behold, I heard thy father speak unto Esau thy brother, saying, Bring me venison, and make me savoury meat, that I may eat, and bless thee before the LORD before my death. Go now to the flock, and fetch me from thence two good kids of the goats; and I will make them savoury meat for thy father, such as he loveth: And thou shalt bring it to thy father, that he may eat, and that he may bless thee before his death (verses 6,7,9,10). Remember, whichever son Isaac pronounced his blessing on would receive a blessing that couldn’t be changed. And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man: My father peradventure will feel me, and I shall seem to him as a deceiver; and I shall bring a curse upon me, and not a blessing. And his mother said unto him, Upon me be thy curse, my son: only obey my voice, and go fetch me them. And he went, and fetched, and brought them to his mother: and his mother made savoury meat, such as his father loved (verses 11-14).

Rebekah gave Jacob the clothes of Esau to wear, and on his hands and neck she put the skins of the kids of goats so that he would feel hairy when his blind father touched him. Then, giving instructions to lie, she handed him the meat and bread to take in to his father. Do you think God had anything to do with this scheme? Absolutely not. God had already told her when He visited with her that the older brother would serve the younger, but she didn’t wait on God. When God tells you something, wait for Him to bring it to pass. If He needs your help, He will let you know.

And Jacob said unto his father, I am Esau thy firstborn; I have done according as thou badest me: arise, I pray thee, sit and eat of my venison, that thy soul may bless me. And Isaac said unto his son, How is it that thou hast found it so quickly, my son? And he said, Because the LORD thy God brought it to me. And Isaac said unto Jacob, Come near, I pray thee, that I may feel thee, my son, whether thou be my very son Esau or not. And Jacob went near unto Isaac his father; and he felt him, and said, The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau. And he discerned him not, because his hands were hairy, as his brother Esau’s hands: so he blessed him. And he said, Art thou my very son Esau? And he said, I am (Genesis 27:19-24). Jacob told his father lie after lie. Rebekah caused all of this. God had nothing to do with it, I say again. How Rebekah and Jacob were to suffer because of their deceit! When you deceive you will suffer for it sooner or later.

Isaac ate the meat and drank the wine Jacob brought him. And his father Isaac said unto him, Come near now, and kiss me, my son. And he came near, and kissed him: and he smelled the smell of his raiment, and blessed him, and said, See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the LORD hath blessed: Therefore God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine: Let people serve thee, and nations bow down to thee: be lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother’s sons bow down to thee: cursed be every one that curseth thee, and blessed be he that blesseth thee (Genesis 27:26-29). All was fulfilled that Isaac said would be fulfilled, but it was meant for Esau.

Later when Esau came with his venison, Isaac his father said unto him, Who art thou? And he said, I am thy son, thy firstborn Esau. And Isaac trembled very exceedingly, and said, Who? where is he that hath taken venison, and brought it me, and I have eaten of all before thou camest, and have blessed him? yea, and he shall be blessed (Genesis 27:32,33). The blessing could not be undone; it was written in Heaven. And when Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with a great and exceeding bitter cry, and said unto his father, Bless me, even me also, O my father. And he said, Thy brother came with subtilty, and hath taken away thy blessing (verses 34,35). Imagine how Isaac was grieved. He would not have gone through all this had Rebekah waited.

And Esau said unto his father, Hast thou but one blessing, my father? bless me, even me also, O my father. And Esau lifted up his voice, and wept. And Isaac his father answered and said unto him, Behold, thy dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above; And by thy sword shalt thou live, and shalt serve thy brother; and it shall come to pass when thou shalt have the dominion, that thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck (Genesis 27:38-40). The time would come when Esau would no longer be under the bondage of his brother.

Esau Planned to Kill His Twin Brother

Esau hated Jacob and said in his heart that he would kill him when the days of mourning for his father were over. The threat of Esau was told to his mother. She in turn warned Jacob he was going to be killed, to flee for his life. Through her deceit Rebekah sent her favorite son out of her life to never see him again. Was this the plan of God? It wasn’t the divine plan of God. It was man and woman’s deceit.

Isaac sent Jacob away with a blessing, told him to go to his kin in Haran, to find a wife among the relatives of Rebekah. On the way there the Lord appeared to Jacob in a dream. Angels of God were ascending and descending a ladder that reached to Heaven. The Lord told Jacob He would give him and his seed the land on which he lay, that his seed would be as numerous as the dust of the earth. Jacob had deceived and he would be deceived. Was it God’s will? No, it was not. When you deceive you leave the will of God. God can’t always put you back on the path He had wanted you on although He has forgiven you. That path may already be gone, but God does the best He can for you and with you under the circumstances. You miss much when you deceive.

After Twenty Years, a Reconciliation

Jacob reached the land of Haran, found his relatives and fell in love with the beautiful Rachel. He told her father Laban he would work seven years for her. Those seven years seemed to Jacob but a few days because of his love. But at the end of the seven years, Laban deceived him and palmed off Leah, Rachel’s older sister, on him instead. Laban excused himself by saying it was the custom for the oldest to be married first. Jacob woke up the morning after the wedding feast to find he had married the wrong woman. He was distraught. Laban agreed to give him Rachel if he would serve another seven years. Jacob worked fourteen years to get two wives. Deceit breeds deceit. Jacob’s father-in-law kept deceiving him. Jacob was angry and told his father-in-law, Thus have I been twenty years in thy house; I served thee fourteen years for thy two daughters, and six years for thy cattle: and thou hast changed my wages ten times (Genesis 31:41). Jacob met a man who had as much deceit as his mother ever had. Laban and Rebekah were brother and sister, after all.

Finally after twenty years, Jacob was going back home. He packed up his wives, his children, his flocks and herds and started on his way. Jacob sent messengers ahead to his brother Esau, and they returned to say Esau was coming to meet him with four hundred men. Jacob was terrified. He divided the people that were with him, his children and wives, putting Rachel and her son at the back; he separated the flocks, herds and camels into two bands. And said, If Esau come to the one company, and smite it, then the other company which is left shall escape (Genesis 32:8). Many today say they are trusting the Lord, but what they treasure most they put on the “back line.” They say they trust the Lord, but they just don’t want to take any chances.

Jacob wrestled with an angel all night, and the next day saw Esau coming with his four hundred men. And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him: and they wept (Genesis 33:4).

Questions and Answers

Did God know He was going to give the Law when He drove Adam and Eve out of the Garden? No, I don’t think so at all. We hear Him saying He is going to destroy everyone from the face of the earth. He wasn’t planning the Law at that time. Because of the way man had lived and acted, God has had to alter many plans. Man has not chosen to abide by God’s divine will, and because God gave man free choice, God was forced to work with the path man selected. It wasn’t God’s divine will for Adam and Eve to be outside Eden.

Did God intend Adam and Eve to have children, or were they the only ones God wanted to walk and talk with? No, God wanted more. In Genesis 2:24 we read, Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. This was a prophecy given in the Garden of Eden.

Were Adam and Eve allowed to eat of the tree of life before the fall? They didn’t need to. They had eternal life inside them, the life of God. Like the angels they were going to live forever. The Lord drove them out of the Garden and protected the tree of life with a flaming sword, lest they eat of the tree of life and live forever. God wasn’t going to allow them to live forever in a physical body when they had sin in them. You can’t have Jesus, your tree of life, unless you repent of your sin and take Him into your heart. You can only walk with Jesus in the truth because He is truth. Truth and sin will not mix.

If God told Adam and Eve to replenish the earth, why were no children born in the Garden of Eden? Adam and Eve, no doubt, were on a long honeymoon and in no hurry to end it. But then they sinned and were cast out of the Garden. The Lord will have a honeymoon with the Bride of Christ for a thousand years in the Perfect Age right here on Earth. The Marriage Supper of the Lamb will last seven years in Heaven while the Tribulation Period is raging on Earth.

Why didn’t God close Eve’s womb after she sinned? He didn’t close it because that was a part of the curse. God told her, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children (Genesis 3:16). If she had given birth in Eden, it would have been painless.

Why would Adam be lonely when he was created in the image of God? Was God also lonely? God can be lonely; He has feelings. He wouldn’t know how we feel if He couldn’t feel, too. I’m sure He felt lonely when part of the angels left Heaven. He has a heart. He is touched with the feeling of our infirmities (Hebrews 4:15). Adam, made in the image of God, must have known loneliness, or else God would not have created a helpmate for him. God came down in the cool of the day to talk to Adam and Eve. He wanted to talk with them, to enjoy them. The Lord wanted company. If you didn’t have any lonely feeling, why would you want company?

Why didn’t God put Adam and Eve in Heaven with Him when He created them? He had angels in Heaven, and He wanted man in the Garden of Eden. He made man and woman a little lower than the angels. He wanted a paradise on Earth for them. The Garden was to have been the only home of Adam and Eve. Their children would have made their homes outside Eden, and the earth would have been a paradise everywhere-had Adam and Eve not sinned.

Did man have all the knowledge concerning God in the Garden? No, but he had everything he needed. He didn’t have to go to school to learn; any knowledge needed was provided. The Lord, for instance, gave Adam the knowledge to name all the animals.

Did Adam and Eve have divine blood when God created them? No, they had human blood. It took divine blood to take the sin out of the human blood. Jesus brought that divine blood so man could be saved from the sin nature handed all the way down from Adam and Eve. The sin is in the bloodline.

The Bible states that God made the heaven and earth and all creatures in six days, and rested the seventh. Were those days regular twenty-four hour days or were they like the Bible passage that says one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day (II Peter 3:8)? The six days of Genesis were ordinary days, not how God looks on time, but how man understands days. In six days God did it all. God set up time for the man and woman He had made; He was giving time for man.

Why did God let humanity go on after the fall of the first man and woman? He let them go on because they had souls that were eternal, a part of Him. The Lord had to give them a chance. He gave the angels that fell a chance to repent; we don’t know how long the Lord dealt with the angels and Lucifer, trying to bring them out of the rebellion they were in. God dealt with them until they blasphemed against the Holy Spirit and God had to cast them out. God is just with angels or man. Man goes against God until he blasphemes against the Holy Spirit of God, causing the Holy Spirit to cut him off forever. God would not have been just had He not given man a second chance.

Where did people other than Adam and Eve come from? They all came from Adam and Eve. They were the beginning of the human race. The first Adam sold us. He as head of the human race had the authority to sell us if he wanted. He had free choice. The second Adam, Jesus, came and bought back all that was lost in the fall of man.

Man Did Not Consider God

God won’t take the blame for the results of disobedience in Genesis. Many events in that book came about because man didn’t consider God in their actions, and God is not to blame for the sorrows those actions brought. Genesis opens with life, life everywhere. But the last chapter in Genesis closes with a dead man embalmed, nailed in a coffin, and no way to get out within himself. So Joseph died, being an hundred and ten years old: and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt (Genesis 50:26). Was that the will of God? No, no. The will of God is life. It will take a Savior, a Redeemer, the resurrected Christ to remove the nails from that coffin and bring the body out.

As you study Genesis you will realize man did not go according to the will of God. God made promises, man used deceit. God has made promises to man today, and still people deceive, get ahead of God. God wants us to wait on Him. Wait for the fulfillment of God’s promises. If people ask me when something God has promised will take place, I always answer, “When God gets ready.” If you run ahead of God, you will wish you had waited on Him.

The angels that stayed with the Lord made their final choice; they can never change. We on earth are making our final choice for all eternity, and it, too, will never be changed. We will enter Heaven by our choice, and then we will have no more choice. That’s the reason the Lord will be able to take over unhindered by man, the way He could move in the beginning. All will be under His control; He will bring a new Earth into existence, a new Heaven. Man will be out of the way of God.

A Message from the Holy Spirit

Yea, saith the Spirit of the Lord: I am in your midst, and I am dealing with souls, souls, souls in this last hour. I am dealing with deceit wherever I find it. If you do not yield to my Spirit, and if the blood of my Son cannot take away that deceit out of you, if you will not yield, then you cannot be with me in my Heaven, saith the Lord. I’m longsuffering, but I will come to the end of my longsuffering. I have been patient and kind and gentle. I have given everything for your redemption, and if you turn away from that redemptive power, I have no help for you.

The devil is seeking to destroy so many with tiny seeds of deceit. He knows that deceit destroyed him, and he knows what will destroy you. He is working night and day to plant tiny seeds of deceit in human hearts. Many people that are called by my name have that seed of deceit in them that will destroy them, that will rob them of all the greatness, of all the good things that I have in store for those that love and serve me.

If you continue in your spirit and you don’t yield to my Holy Spirit, you will be deceived and you will believe a lie and be damned because you would not accept my truth and live in my truth and walk in my truth. Only the truth will set you free and keep you free from all deceit. If you don’t yield to my truth and stay with my truth, you will not live free of deceit, and you will be damned, saith the Lord.

Salvation and Healing for You, a Twofold Atonement

Let the Spirit of the Lord search your heart, search you. Do you have any deceit in you? No matter how long you have claimed to be a Christian, is one seed of deceit in your heart? The Lord said not one seed of deceit will enter into His Heaven. Do you have Jesus in your heart? If not, pray the sinners’ prayer with me now. Mean it from your heart: Oh, God, cleanse me from all deceit! Cleanse me! I don’t want any deceit in my spirit. Please, God, I don’t want to be destroyed! I know you love me. I know Jesus died for me, and I will serve you Lord. I will live in your truth. I will live in your righteousness the rest of my life, and you will never find any deceit in my spirit from this day forward. I believe the blood of Jesus washes away deceit, all deceit, all sin, all sin. Now, Jesus, come into my heart! Come in! I receive you, precious Lord and Master. I receive you to live with you, to live in you and for you to live in me the rest of life’s journey. I thank you, Lord.

You who are sick and afflicted, the wonderful healing Christ is with you; the Lord is ready to heal you, ready to make you well. For I am the Lord that healeth thee (Exodus 15:26).

Now Lord, I bring the sick and afflicted to you. I believe you to heal the people as they claim your wonderful promises of healing. In the name of Jesus I come against the diseases and afflictions in the bodies of precious humanity. In the name of Jesus it comes from your gift of miracles, your gifts of healing through the power of the blessed Holy Ghost. Heal! in the name of Jesus! Heal! in the all-powerful name of Jesus. Heal! in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, the mighty prophet of God, the mighty Savior of God, the mighty Son of God.

The healing power is flowing. Let that power linger in your body and watch daily as the Lord gets you or your loved one well. Be careful to give the Lord all the praise, all the honor and glory. I am not a healer; Jesus is the healer. I am His believer. I believe in the power of prayer.

The Bride Will Trample Devils Underfoot

Oh Bride of Christ, you’re going to journey, saith the Lord. You’re going to journey in this last hour, doing the whole will of God, shining forth fair as the moon, clear as the sun and terrible as an army with banners. You’re going to be that Daniel in the den of lions; the angel will be there to minister. You’re going to be those Hebrew boys in the fiery furnace, and the Fourth Man, Jesus, will be right there in your midst. Nothing will be able to defeat you or destroy you. All power will be yours. The Bride will trample devils underfoot. As she sings “There’s power, power, wonder-working power in the blood of the Lamb” she will use that blood with power over every demonic spirit and rejoice. The Bride of Christ with the blood of Jesus is holy terror to the devil, to all his demonic forces. Our God is leading us, our God is moving. The Lord Jesus Christ is our Lord, Master and Savior. We won’t stop now. How wonderful, indeed, our Lord is and never to be blamed for the disobedience of mankind and its devastating results.