The Lord said to Abraham, "Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them." And He said to him, "So shall your descendants be." Then he believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.
(Genesis 15:5)
From this passage of scripture we find God giving Abraham a glimpse of his future. There is a very important message here for us to grasp. I shared some of it in my previous article. Yet, it is one that we can easily forget. In a couple chapters just before this verse, God told Abraham that He would make his descendants as dust of the earth (Genesis. 13:16). Yet, many years later Abraham was willing sacrifice his son Isaac. Then, the angel of the Lord came to him and said, "By Myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son, indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore, and your seed shall possess the gates of their enemies. In your seed all the nations shall be blessed, because you have obey My voice." (Genesis 22:15-18)
Abraham was willing to sacrifice his greatest possession. He also trust in God's faithfulness no matter what the circumstances were or the cost. The blessing of God not only affected Abraham's present time on earth, but his future after that, as well. Wow, no wonder Abraham is called, the father of our faith. Who else in that time of history would have been willing to do such a thing.
Abraham was called and chosen by God to be "a portal of faith" in which we must pass through, if we are to know Jesus Christ. (There have been other spiritual portals throughout history.) Yet, Jesus Christ, the seed of Abraham, became The Portal in which all generations were meant to pass through. Jesus said,"No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6) We too, can become portals for future generations. However, we must look to Jesus as our example, if we are to accomplish this.
We must be willing to sacrifice and cross a threshold where no man has gone before. God wants to give us the keys of faith to open doors that go beyond time and space. The main thing for us to remember is to abide in Him as He lead us. I'm learning that God's plan for us, extend beyond ourselves and time. Let me explain more.
Abraham had natural seeds (sands of the earth). Yet, God told Abraham to look up to the stars and count them (the spiritual seed), if he could. God never told him to look down and count the sand—two things we should keep in mind. Our focus is to be looking up, not down. Look to the stars in God's eyes, listen to His heartbeat and obey His voice. Abraham did all of that, and was still willing to sacrifice his best (the natural) for the sake of the spiritual, in the Kingdom of Heaven. An example for us to follow. It was also a prophetic picture of the sacrifice God had already made regarding his own Son, Jesus, before time began. And later on when Jesus Christ was crucified, it was the fulfillment of that prophetic picture. Both, Jesus and the Heavenly Father's sacrifices were for the salvation of mankind—the natural and the spiritual seed (stars) of Abraham. The apostle Paul states, "While we were yet sinner Christ died for the ungodly." Romans 5:8)
God wanted Abraham to keep looking up and see the stars in heaven and remember that they represented his spiritual sons. We are to see the future. So the rest of his life, Abraham kept looking up, to the future for a city of spiritual seeds, that would one day descend from heaven. A city who's builder and foundation was God (Heb. 11:10). Yahweh became Abraham's obsession.
As God's sons and the spiritual seeds of Abraham, we too must be willing to make the same sacrifice (our most valuable possession) and walk with God. Our sacrifice is not for God's sake, but for the salvation of future spiritual sons and daughters in this lifetime and for a thousand generations to come (Deut. 7:9 and Exodus 20:6). That's right, our lives are meant to affect others we don't even know and those who are not even born yet. It's something God is able to do, because He is God. Our life and time on earth, is not just about us. Just as we are the results of someone else's life, prayers and sacrifice.
We are physical and spiritual beings, yet our focus is to be on the spiritual. Jesus even stated, that his mother, brothers and sisters were those who did the will of God, meaning the spiritual ones. Therefore, God places a much higher value on the spiritual rather than the natural seed. Both John the Baptist and Jesus rebuked the Pharisees, who claimed to be the natural sons of Abraham. The natural things of men and the flesh are not eternal, nor have they any place in His Kingdom.
However, there's coming a time when God will being together the natural things of God and the spiritual things of God. Heaven and earth will become one, just as it was in the beginning, in the Garden of Eden. The only true value of any relationship are those who God sees as His children and His sons and daughters. Abraham interceded for the lost and the righteous. We to must become intercessor like Abraham.
So whatever you ask in faith, believe and it will be done for you (Mark 11:24). We must learn to pray according to His will in all areas of our lives. Much of our problems lies with our desires, disobedience and lack of faith. We often want things of no value to God, or done the way we wont, yet we haven't submitted certain areas of our life. And some things will just happen after our life here on earth. It's not for us to tell God, how or when, rather just to trust Him. To want things done our way and time is vanity. The most important thing is that we surrender our hearts to God's will. Then trust Him, because He is a faithful God, to all His promises.
Note: The Lord said one night, that when we look downward to the things which are earthly, that includes our natural family, our fleshly desires and our weakness; the crown which He has placed upon us, "Falls from our head." In order to keep that from happening, we must continue to look up to our future and abide in Him. Don't spend time looking down at the problems or the desires of our flesh, or doubts, fears and self-pity.
We must continue to move foreword by faith, one step at a time, with our heads held high—looking to the stars. All our sufferings and sacrifices will serve their purpose, for those who are called of God. Our dynasty and destiny is in heavenly places. We are destine for the thrown, where we are presently seated in Christ. Our goal is not heaven, but the Kingdom of God. Look to the Stars!
A final note: What's the most important thing to you, that you would be willing to sacrifice for the Kingdom of God?
