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FATHER ABRAHAM

God made out of Abraham an example for us to follow…

In the first book of the Bible, in Genesis, we are told that soon after the fall of Adam and Eve, mankind became exceedingly evil!

Not only did Cain kill his brother Abel, but as it is written in Genesis 6: 5-8

“ The Lord God saw how wickedness was increasing on Earth, how evil every man’s heart had become, and he regretted having made mankind.”

He was about to destroy his whole creation when he noticed Noah, the only righteous person that was still walking in Gods ways.

So, God spared Noah, and his family from the flood that covered all living beings.

However, after the flood, the descendants of Noah became evil again! A notable example of this were the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah!

It was during those evil days, some 4.000 years ago, that God noticed another exceptional man among one of Noah’s grandchildren: Abraham!

Abraham was, much like Noah, a very righteous and obedient person who feared the Lord God.

God, wishing to create a “righteous haven” on earth, decided to make out of Abraham a very special nation, a “chosen nation” that would hopefully inherit Abraham’s faith and qualities, and that would be a light to the world, an example that would stand out and influence all other nations to also follow God’s Ways.

In God’s own words:

“Abraham will certainly become a great and powerful nation that will become a blessing to all the other nations of the earth, since I know that Abraham will teach and command his family, his sons and their descendants to always keep the “Ways of the Lord” and do what is righteous and good in God’s eyes”

(Genesis 18: 18- 19)

So, the Lord God appeared to Abraham and told him to separate himself from his ancestors and all other men and to move to the land extending between Egypt and the Euphrates River, and more precisely to the land of Canaan, (present day Israel!). ( Genesis 15: 18)

That was to be the land that God would give to Abraham and his descendants as an everlasting inheritance!

(Genesis 12: 6 – 7)

There was a problem, though…

Abraham’s exceedingly beautiful wife, Sara, was not able to have children: Abraham had no son of his own, and he was very bitter and unhappy because of it.

How could God speak to him about his “descendants” inheriting that land!

He was childless, he will never have descendants, and it bothered him tremendously…

Abraham’s whole life was meaningless to him just because God had not given him children, at least a son, that he had been praying for so fervently, and for so long…

So, when the Lord God appeared to him again in a vision, a few years later, Abraham spoke to God about this, and the Lord told him not to worry, but to trust him:

He will give him a descendant that will come out of his own body, and with time, his descendants would become too numerous to be counted… (Genesis 13: 15- 16)

Abraham believed God, and because of this, God declared Abraham to be a “righteous” man, worthy of living one day in his eternal heavenly kingdom. (Genesis 14: 6)

The years went by however, but Sarah remained barren! And what was worse is that they were both getting past the age of having children…

So, out of desperation, Sara gave her young Egyptian maid to Abraham as a second wife, for him to have a child with her.

And indeed, Hagar bore a son to Abraham, whom God named Ismael.

Abraham was 86 years old then, and he was thrilled for having received at last, after so manny years of hoping, praying and waiting, a child of his own that would inherit his great riches and give him purpose and joy in his life.

When Isaac became13 years old, (and Abraham 99), the Lord appeared to him again and told him that his son Ismael will not become the father of God’s own, chosen nation!

This privilege will be given to the son that his 90-year-old wife, Sarah would soon bear for him, a son that is to be called Isaac.

Isaac will become not only the father of God’s own, holy, chosen nation, but also the father of many other nations as well on earth.

All this so as to cause Abraham to feel “blessed” for having a multitude of descendants…

As for Ishmael, Abraham’s present beloved son, Abraham had to send him, (and his Egyptian mother), far away from himself, and give him no inheritance at all!

Abraham was terribly distressed about it all, but since this was God’s decision, it had to be so!

And God reassured him that he would take good care of Ismael.

So, Abraham did as he was ordered: Some time after Sarah gave birth to Isaac, Abraham was told to send away his own son, Ismael !

Abraham found it exceedingly hard and unfair to send away his firstborn son and his mother so harshly, with just some bread and water for their journey through the desert, but he just had to obey his Creator.

That was his foremost duty!

And he did! (Genesis 21: 11)

At least Abraham had now Isaac, his second son, that he also loved wholeheartedly and that gave meaning and happiness to his old age.

Not for long, though…

A few years later, when Isaac was still a child, God commanded Abraham to take him, (the only child that he now had), walk with him to mount Moriah, (where the temple of God would one day be built), and sacrifice him there to God!

No words could ever express how Abraham must have felt!

Utterly confused and distraught, Abraham took his beloved son Isaac to mount Moriah, a three days journey from where he lived, and there, in complete submission and obedience to God, he raised his knife to slaughter his own son that he loved more than himself!

Thankfully, God called him from heaven, at the last moment, and told not to harm his son!

It was a test!

God wanted to see if Abraham would obey this terrible command that he gave him!

Was his son more important to him than to submit to his Creator? (Genesis22: 1 – 18)

Again, Abraham chose to do just what the Lord his God had told him.

His first duty in life was to absolutely obey his Creator!

And God took notice!

Abraham had passed with distinction all the tests that God had set before him, in spite of the unbelievable anguish and sorrow that they caused him…

Abraham earned the honour given to him by God who, from then on, often introduced himself as being “the God of Abraham”!

After this, Abraham lived happily with his precious son Isaac for 70 years or so. After Sarah’s death, he remarried and had more sons.

He looked for a worthy wife for Isaac and found Rebekah, who gave him twin grandsons: Esau and Jacob.

God later named Jacob “Israel,” which means “he who wrestles with God.”

Jacob’s twelve sons became the patriarchs of the twelve tribes of Israel, God’s chosen people, who, unfortunately, have yet to fully prove themselves worthy of the great honor bestowed upon them.

God has been shaping and disciplining the Israelites for the last three thousand years now, for them to eventually become what they were always destined to be:

A model and a blessing for all the nations of the earth.

Abraham died at the age of 175 and was laid to rest with his ancestors.

His greatest virtue was this:

“Obedience to God at any cost.”

And this must become the highest virtue of every true believer.

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When we observe the life of Abraham from above, we realize that Abraham’s “happiness” was not God’s primary concern or purpose!

Why?

Because God had discerned within Abraham’s spirit a rare quality — a virtue that could make of him a great man of God!

So, he decided to cultivate that virtue, to develop it, to test it, and to make it blossom and shine like a diamond! But Abraham’s happiness stood in the way!

It therefore had to be put aside.

Abraham’s virtue was his tendency to fear God and obey him, no matter what… And so, God arranged the circumstances of Abraham’s life in such a way that he would be tested to the utmost. For this to happen, Abraham had to go through all the circumstances that God had allowed in his life:

His happiness had to be put aside…

Today, all of us draw inspiration from the example that Abrahamleft us, and in eternity, we will all show him the respect and praise that he rightfully deserves — and which he would not have received if he had simply lived a happy life…

The same applies to us!

Each one of us possesses something unique that must be cultivated, developed, and brought to bloom — so that we too may have some victory, some achievement that would add to our worth and cause us to shine in the eyes of all, in eternity.

But for this to happen, our happiness must often be set aside…

So be it.

Let us therefore understand this clearly:

God’s main purpose and goal for each of us is not to make us happy in this life, but to give us the opportunity to be rich in heaven — worthy of praise and respect for the faithfulness and obedience that we demonstrated in the midst of our afflictions and sorrows.

The hardships that we face in life give us that opportunity to shine, to “stand out” in heaven.

Let us therefore accept them and endure them faithfully until the end.

Constantin Economides

In the Greek original version of Matthew chapter 6: 22-23, Jesus warns us against having “dark eyes”, and I would like to elaborate on this.

Some translators of this difficult passage have not actually used these very words (dark eyes) that our Lord used, so do not be surprised if you cannot see them in your bible.

They are in the original text!

I, myself am paraphrasing here this passage so as to make it easier for you to understand:

So, as I understand it, Jesus said:

“The state of your soul can be seen by what you look at and how your soul interprets what your eyes see…

If your eyes look and appreciate what is good, pure and true, then your soul is good and pure.

But if your eyes see darkness where there is light, if they look at “good” and call it “bad” then your eyes are dark, and your spirit itself is bad, filled with godless and evil thoughts.”

Let me give you an example as to what I believe it means to have “dark eyes”:

Before I was born, my father lived in the centre of Athens, the capital of Greece.

Not far from the building in which he was staying, there was a homeless old man, who had found a spot where he bothered no one, and laid there, begging.

One wet winter day, as my father walked by Mr. George (that was the beggar’s name), my father invited him to his place for him to get warm , take a bath, have his clothes cleaned and sleep in a warm bed that night.

Mr George accepted, and actually stayed at my father’s place throughout that winter.

(I have to say that when summer came, my father asked him to go back to his spot in the street, since he was bringing in their room all sorts of things that he collected in the rubbish bins…)

Mr George confided to my father that, while living in the streets, he often had heart attacks, and passers-by would call an ambulance to take him to hospital.

There, some compassionate doctors and nurses took good care of him and would always try to keep him in the hospital for as long as they could, so that Mr. George may escape for a while the cold, wet and dirty streets of Athens…

But soon… a problem creeped up:

Mr. George started suspecting that the doctors were actually using him as a guinea pig and were experimenting different medicines on him!

He became convinced of it, and instead of being grateful and friendly towards the staff in the hospital, he became difficult, nasty, even aggressive!

Such a behaviour is what I believe Jesus meant by having “dark eyes”:

It is the tendency that many people have to interpret what they see in a distorted and crooked way…

Those who have dark eyes, have dark thoughts, much like the devil does, and cannot accept what is good and true! They see wrong everywhere and are not touched by what is good, nor are they moved by acts of kindness and love..

Today’s so-called Palestinians are a good example of what people with dark eyes are! They thrive on lies and deception and hate those who are better than themselves…

People with dark eyes have a suspicious, malicious and distorted way of seeing everything. The darkness in them destroys any relationship or friendship they may have, and most of all, prevents them from believing in a good and loving God…

They interpret light as being darkness, good as being bad!

They see everything upside down and present the lies that they invent as truth!

And they end up believing their own lies…

Such people can also be found in the bible:

Consider for instance Judas Iscariot or the Jewish religious leaders. What opinion they had of the most righteous man that ever existed! They opposed him in every possible way and demanded that he be crucified!

Their eyes were full of darkness and evil, refusing to be honest with themselves and give credit to the truths that Jesus taught, or even acknowledge the obvious miracles that he performed in God’s name.

For them, all that Jesus said and did was a lie, a deception!

Consider also the passage in Luke 8: 26-39 where a feared demonic person came to Jesus to be healed.

Notice the response that Jesus received from the villagers after he expelled the hoard of demons that lived in that man:

They all asked Jesus to leave their village!

They wanted nothing to do with him! Why?

Because of their pigs that drowned! That is what mattered to them: Jesus had caused a disaster in their village that touched their pocket…

The fact that a demoniac was now sitting at Jesus’ feet, delivered from the demons that tormented him meant little to them!

What mattered was that, because of the good that Jesus did, the herd of pigs had drowned

And that was not acceptable to them!

Dark eyes are a result of one’s selfishness, one’s self-centredness. If a good deed costs them in any way, they will call it bad and oppose it!

No wonder that our Righteous and Loving God refuses to allow such people to repent, change and be saved…

God hides himself from them and hardens their hearts removing from them the possibility of repenting and escaping condemnation. He wants them to suffer for their evil heart or deeds!

After they have received the full punishment for their self-centred and evil hearts, in Hades, (the world of the dead, where souls are punished), only then will he give them a chance to repent and be saved!

I know that the evangelical theology of today does not see things that way, but the are mistaken!

In Isaiah 6: 9-10, it is written:

God made the heart of this people calloused; he made their ears dull and closed their eyes, so that they may not be able to see with their eyes, or hear with their ears, or understand with their hearts, and turn in repentance to him, that they may be healed!”

As for clarity about suffering for one’s sins in Hades, read the passage in Luke 16: 19-31, that speaks of the rich man and Lazarus the beggar, in Hades!

And please, read also 1 Peter 3: 19-20 where it is stated that Jesus went to Hades and preached the “Good News of Salvation” to the dead…

Souls can still be saved after death!

Anyway, let us beware!

There are sins that God will not forgive before we have been punished for them here on earth or in the afterlife!

Stay away therefore, with fear, from any tendency that you may have of becoming self-centred, which will result in you having dark eyes…

“It is a dreadful thing to fall in the hands of the Living God to be judged” (Hebrews 10: 31)

Become Christ-centred, and by doing this, your eyes will see clearly, perceive what is good or bad in God’s eyes, and his Spirit will help you do what is right and pleasing in his eyes!