Archive for the ‘hope’ tag
June 14, 2009: Jacob’s Death and Burial
The text for this lesson is Genesis 49:29–50:14.
Key Points
- Jacob requested burial in Canaan, rather than in Egypt, because Canaan was the land to which God had promised to send the One through whom all the families of the earth would be blessed—Jesus (Genesis 12:1–3; 46:2–4).
- Law: Death is a time of tremendous grief.
- Gospel: We do not grieve as those who have no hope, because Jesus has overcome death and the grave.
- Law: We ourselves must also face death. Gospel: Because Jesus died in our place, we can look ahead to God’s promised land of heaven.
- Law: How we deal with death—our own and that of a loved one—can sometimes give a witness of doubt, worry, and fear.
- Gospel: By God’s grace, comforted with the assurance of our resurrection in Christ, we are able to testify to the hope that is in us.
Context
After Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers, their father Jacob presumed him dead (Genesis 37). However, the Lord preserved and prospered Joseph in Egypt (Genesis 39–41). After Joseph helped his brothers during a famine (Genesis 42–45), Jacob came to settle in Egypt (Genesis 46). Joseph and Jacob were happily reunited. Before Jacob died, he blessed his sons (Genesis 49:1–28).
The Messiah first promised to Eve (Genesis 3:15), then to Abraham (Genesis 12:7; Galatians 3:16), Isaac (Genesis 26:3), and Jacob—renamed Israel (Genesis 35:9–12), would come through Judah (Genesis 49:8–12). Matthew 1:1–2 traces Jesus’ lineage from Abraham to Judah. Matthew 1:17 presents Jesus as the promised Christ, “who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel” (2 Timothy 1:10).
May 24, 2009: Paul Sails for Rome
The text for this lesson is Acts 27:1–44.
Key Points
- As Christ was with Paul and His companions, so He is with me, holding me up, keeping me with Him in the ship of the Church, and casting all my sins into the depths of the sea.
- Law: In sinful despair, I let the pains of the present overtake me and no longer believe in God or trust His redemption or love.
- Gospel: Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever, rides out the storms of life with me, granting me hope in my future redemption.
Context
Arrested in Jerusalem on trumped-up charges (Acts 21:1–40) and jailed for more than two years in Caesarea (Acts 24:27), Paul is finally on his way to Rome, for he had appealed to Caesar (Acts 25:11), the “supreme court” of the empire. As this story makes clear, sea travel in ancient times could be quite treacherous, especially as winter approached (Acts 27:9–12). After the shipwreck at Malta, where Paul and the crew wintered (Acts 28:11), the apostle finally arrived in Rome, where Acts ends with the account of Paul’s incessant preaching of the Gospel to the Jews and all who would lend him an ear.
