There are many fascinating dichotomies within the pages of scripture, seeming contradictions such one God in three persons, God’s sovereignty and man’s will, and faith vs. action or works.
Such is the case of the Lord appearing to Isaac in Genesis 26. The bible teaches that we are saved by faith and not by works lest anyone should boast, but in this passage the Lord tells Isaac that He will bless Isaac as He did Abraham and ends this pronouncement with these words in verse 5:
“because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.”
First, I should point out that this occurs before the giving of the Torah on Mt. Sinai, so just as the passage on God’s discussion with Abraham on Sodom and Gomorrah to what commands is the Lord referring? Did Adam have commands given to him that he passed on? Did Abraham receive a telling of God’s commands at some untold point? Or is this just a reference to Abraham obeying God in general? We don’t know for sure.
But what I do know is that in recent years, there has been a poor understanding of a believer’s responsibility to God’s commands even heretical teaching regarding keeping God’s ways.
You see we are saved by God’s grace through our faith, but that faith is proved out by our obedience to the Lord. That is why James said show me your faith by your actions. When we say we no longer have to obey God’s commands we make Him a liar and we do not imitate Jesus. Remember, He did not come to abolish the law.
We are losing the fight for the next generation because we teach that God’s commands are null and void, when really it once was true that to argue before the Supreme Court you had to know Deuteronomy inside and out. We now ignore the fundamentals of the faith.
If you desire to be blessed by God, to have your family blessed by God you must be an obedient to God. That is why we repent of disobedience when confronted by His grace and mercy.
