These are lessons 32 and 33 of the Pentecostal Bible Study Course distributed by Word Aflame. The Pentecosta Bible Study Course used to be known as the Oneness Pentecostal Correspondence Course and was required reading for those without a Bible School education who wanted to become licensed ministers with the UPC. I have an old set of these lessons in two loose leaf binders and have had them since 1956.
Lesson 32
Sonship
(
Genesis 15)
I. God’s Reward
Since Abram refused the king of Sodom’s reward, the Lord appeared in a vision to him and
gave him a precious promise: “Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward” (
Genesis 15:1). No one ever loses by giving up this world’s goods for the cause of Christ. He is our portion forever!
II. Sonship Depends on Resurrection Power
When Abram reminded the Lord that he was still childless, God promised him a son of his own, through whom his descendants would become as numerous as the stars (
Genesis 15:2-5). “And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness” (
Genesis 15:6). Now, let us consider the kind of faith Abram had. Since Abram’s body was as good as dead, being about one hundred years old, this promise (sonship) depended on God giving life to what was dead. Likewise, our sonship depends on the resurrection power of God to give life to us who are dead in trespasses and in sin. Salvation is not simply reforming oneself! (See
Romans 6:4-5;
Colossians 2:13.)
III. Sonship Comes through Faith
Paul used Abram’s faith to show that our sonship in Christ depends on faith and not works.
Paul emphasized that it was not Abraham’s good works that caused God to give him a son: “For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory. . . . For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness” (
Romans 4:2-3).
God has ordained faith as the condition for receiving the promise, for a definite purpose: He
wants His children to attribute their salvation to the grace of God alone.
Romans 4:4 declares, “Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.” In other words, if we can earn our salvation by works, we will not think of our salvation as a gift but as a payment we have earned. Thus
Romans 4:16 says, “Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace.” (See
Ephesians 2:8-9.)
“But to him that worketh not [does not depend upon good works for salvation], but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness” (
Romans 4:5). Working on a dead body will never bring it to life. You may massage a dead man’s hands, you may pump air into his lungs, you may dress him up in the finest clothes, but he is still dead. Likewise, those who soothe their consciences by “turning over a new leaf” without being saved by the power of God are simply dressing up a dead man. No matter how respectable they look to people, they are still dead to God. A sinner is utterly helpless to make himself righteous in the sight of God by works.
Sonship, as in Abram’s case, depends on the power of God to raise from the dead. “(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead” (
Romans 4:17). Abram believed God was able to do this, for “being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead . . . neither yet the deadness of Sara’s womb . . . but was strong in faith, giving glory to God” (
Romans 4:19-20). Abram did not focus on the deadness of his body but on the faithfulness of God. These things concerning Abram were written so that we might have the kind of faith he had and be saved. “Now it was not written for his sake alone, . . . but for us also, to whom it [righteousness] shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead” (
Romans 4:23-24).
Lesson 33
Abram’s Vision
(
Genesis 15)
I. Promise of Inheritance
God promised to give the land of Canaan to Abram. “And he said unto him, I am the LORD that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it” (
Genesis 15:7). Then Abram asked for a confirmation of this covenant, whereupon God instructed him to prepare a sacrifice consisting of a heifer, a female goat, a ram, a turtledove, and a pigeon.
II. Driving Away the Fowls
After Abram prepared the sacrifice and laid the pieces upon the altar, he stood guard by his
sacrifice until evening, waiting for God to appear to him. While he waited for the Lord, “the fowls came down upon the carcases, [and] Abram drove them away” (
Genesis 15:11). Had he not done so, the fowls would have devoured the sacrifice before God appeared to him with His revelation of Abram’s future. Similarly, when a child of God consecrates his life to God and lays everything on the altar, the enemy will harass him with temptations, doubts, and fears. If he resists them, however, God will reveal Himself in a more precious way than ever. Often, when we kneel to pray, we must drive away thoughts concerning the cares of this life before we can pray to a place where God can speak. (See
James 4:7.)
III. Prophecy
As the sun was going down, Abram fell into a deep sleep (
Genesis 15:12). Abram was under the power of God, for he received a wonderful vision and a threefold prophecy of the future:
1. Bondage in Egypt. “An horror of great darkness fell upon him.” The great darkness that
descended upon Abram pointed to the darkness that would befall his posterity when the Egyptians enslaved them. “Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years” (
Genesis 15:13).
2. The Exodus. The Lord revealed the Israelite’s exodus from Egypt: “Afterward shall they
come out with great substance” (
Genesis 15:14).
3. Possession of Canaan. “But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again”
(
Genesis 15:16). God revealed several hundred years of history concerning Abram’s posterity before he had a child!
IV. Abram’s Vision
“And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces” (
Genesis 15:17). Here we have two figures that describe the path by which the Lord led Abram’s posterity.
1. A Smoking Furnace. This part of Abram’s vision prefigured the sufferings and trials
though which the Lord would lead Israel. “I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction” (
Isaiah 48:10). The first great affliction they passed through was the Egyptian bondage. “But the LORD hath . . . brought you forth out of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt” (
Deuteronomy 4:20). They later suffered captivity in Babylon and were dispersed among the nations.
2. A Burning Lamp. Through all these trials, God promised to be with them as a burning
lamp to comfort and to deliver them. When Nebuchadnezzar cast the three young Hebrew men into the fiery furnace, the onlookers saw someone else beside them in the angry flames—they saw someone who looked like the “Son of God.”
This verse is an example for the church. Those who will be heirs of God must have fellowship with Christ in His suffering. “For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake” (
Philippians 1:29). Nevertheless, we can rejoice in these trials, knowing He will never abandon us (
Hebrews 13:5). Through trials, God purifies His people and prepares them for His appearing. “Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried . . . and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand” (
Daniel 12:10). Furthermore,
Romans 8:17-18 says, “And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”
Our faith must be “tried with fire” (
I Peter 1:7). Moreover, Peter exhorted us, “Think it not
strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you” (
I Peter 4:12). “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far moreexceeding and eternal weight of glory” (
II Corinthians 4:17).
Again, the church, like Israel, need not fear the fiery furnace, for God has promised to be very near—yes, to dwell with those who suffer for Him. (See
Hebrews 13:5-6.) The Holy Ghost will dwell within the Spirit-filled believer as fire, consuming all the dross in him (
Matthew 3:11). It is the indwelling fire of God’s Holy Spirit that enables the child of God to pass through the furnace of affliction unharmed and without the slightest smell of smoke on his garments. God’s intention is to soften and melt our hearts, but without this burning lamp within our hearts, these same experiences, which were intended to draw us near our Savior, will harden us instead.
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