Thematic Bible




Thematic Bible



Abram was ninety-nine years old. Jehovah appeared to him and said: I am God Almighty. Walk before me and be blameless. I will establish my covenant between us. I will greatly increase your numbers. Abram fell on his face and God said to him: read more.
This is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. You will no longer be called Abram (Exalted Father). Your name will be Abraham (means Father of Many). I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you very fruitful. I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. I will establish my covenant as a long lasting covenant between us. It will be for your descendants after you, for the generations to come. I will be your God and the God of your descendants after you. The whole land of Canaan, where you are now a guest (alien) (foreigner) (stranger), I will give a long lasting possession to you and your descendants after you. I will be their God. Then God said to Abraham: As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come. This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You are to undergo circumcision. It will be the sign of the covenant between us. For the generations to come every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised. This includes those born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner, those who are not your offspring. Whether born in your household or bought with your money, they must be circumcised. My covenant in your flesh is to be a long lasting covenant. Any male not circumcised in the flesh will be cut off from his people. He has broken my covenant. God continued: Do not call your wife Sarai any longer. Her name will be Sarah. I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations. Kings of peoples will come from her. Abraham fell to his face. He laughed and said to himself: Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety? Abraham said to God: If only Ishmael might live under your blessing! God replied: Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son! You will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as a long lasting covenant for his descendants after him. Concerning Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him. I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation. But my covenant I will establish with Isaac. Sarah will bear him to you by this time next year. When he finished speaking with Abraham, God went up from him.

You will give truth to Jacob, and show loving-kindness (unchanging love) to Abraham. For you have sworn this to our fathers from the days of old.

It was the oath he spoke to Abraham our father.

The promise to Abraham or to his seed that he should be heir of the world was not through the law but through righteousness by faith.

Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcised for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made to the fathers.

When God made a promise to Abraham, he could swear by no one greater then himself, so he swore by himself. He said: I will surely bless you and give you many descendants.

Abraham believed God and Jehovah considered his faith as his righteousness. (Genesis 15:6) You know that those who have faith are sons of Abraham. The Scripture revealed ahead of time, that God justified the people of the nations by faith. He preached the good news beforehand to Abraham. He said: In you will all the nations be blessed. read more.
So then those who have faith are blessed with the faithful Abraham. Those who are of the works of the Law are under a curse. For it is written, Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the Law, by obeying them. The fact that the Law justifies no man before God is evident. The righteous will live by faith. The Law is not based on faith. He that does them will live by them. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. It is written; Cursed is everyone who is hung on a stake. This way the blessing of Abraham might come upon the nations through Christ Jesus and we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Brothers, I speak like a man speaks: Though it is only a man's covenant, yet when it has been confirmed, no one makes it void, or adds to it. The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He did not say to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to your seed, which is Christ. Now this I say: the Law, which came four hundred and thirty years later, does not invalidate a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to nullify the promise. If the inheritance is based on the Law, it is no longer based on a promise. However God granted it to Abraham by means of a promise.


It is written, that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman, and one by the freewoman. How is it that the son by the slave woman is born after the flesh; but the son by the freewoman is born through promise? This contains an allegory (symbolic drama). These women symbolize two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children to bondage, which is Hagar. read more.
Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia. She corresponds to the Jerusalem that now is. She is in bondage with her children. The Jerusalem above is free. She is our mother. It is written, Rejoice, barren woman who does not give birth. Break forth and cry, you who do not labor; for there are more children of the desolate than of the one who has the husband. Brothers, we are children who belong to the promise, the same as Isaac was. Just like then, the son who was conceived in a natural way according to the flesh persecuted the son conceived in a spiritual way. That is exactly what is happening now! What do the scriptures say? Throw out the slave woman and her son. For the son of the slave woman must not share the inheritance with the son of the free woman. (Genesis 21:10) Brothers, we are not children of a slave woman but of the free woman.


She said to Abraham: Get rid of that slave woman and her son. This upset Abraham because of his son Ishmael. God said to Abraham: Do not be upset about the boy and your slave. Listen to what Sarah says, because through Isaac your descendants will carry on your name. read more.
I will make the slave's son into a nation also, because he is your child. Early the next morning Abraham took bread and a container of water and gave them to Hagar, putting them on her shoulder. He also gave her the boy and sent her on her way. So she left and wandered around in the desert near Beer-sheba.

It is written, that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman, and one by the freewoman. How is it that the son by the slave woman is born after the flesh; but the son by the freewoman is born through promise? This contains an allegory (symbolic drama). These women symbolize two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children to bondage, which is Hagar. read more.
Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia. She corresponds to the Jerusalem that now is. She is in bondage with her children. The Jerusalem above is free. She is our mother. It is written, Rejoice, barren woman who does not give birth. Break forth and cry, you who do not labor; for there are more children of the desolate than of the one who has the husband. Brothers, we are children who belong to the promise, the same as Isaac was. Just like then, the son who was conceived in a natural way according to the flesh persecuted the son conceived in a spiritual way. That is exactly what is happening now! What do the scriptures say? Throw out the slave woman and her son. For the son of the slave woman must not share the inheritance with the son of the free woman. (Genesis 21:10)


Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age. It was at the very time God had promised him. Abraham gave the name Isaac (he laughs) to the son Sarah bore him.

It is written, that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman, and one by the freewoman. How is it that the son by the slave woman is born after the flesh; but the son by the freewoman is born through promise? This contains an allegory (symbolic drama). These women symbolize two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children to bondage, which is Hagar. read more.
Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia. She corresponds to the Jerusalem that now is. She is in bondage with her children. The Jerusalem above is free. She is our mother. It is written, Rejoice, barren woman who does not give birth. Break forth and cry, you who do not labor; for there are more children of the desolate than of the one who has the husband. Brothers, we are children who belong to the promise, the same as Isaac was. Just like then, the son who was conceived in a natural way according to the flesh persecuted the son conceived in a spiritual way. That is exactly what is happening now! What do the scriptures say? Throw out the slave woman and her son. For the son of the slave woman must not share the inheritance with the son of the free woman. (Genesis 21:10)


I took Abraham, your ancestor, from the land across the Euphrates and led him through the whole land of Canaan. I gave him many descendants. I gave him Isaac,

God continued: Do not call your wife Sarai any longer. Her name will be Sarah. I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations. Kings of peoples will come from her. Abraham fell to his face. He laughed and said to himself: Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety? read more.
Abraham said to God: If only Ishmael might live under your blessing! God replied: Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son! You will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as a long lasting covenant for his descendants after him.

Jehovah appeared again to Abraham by the oak grove of Mamre. He was sitting in the tent door in the heat of the day. He looked up and noticed three men coming toward him. He ran from the tent door to meet them, and bowed to the ground. Abraham said: My Lord, if I have now found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant. read more.
Please. Let a little water be brought. Wash your feet and rest under the tree. I will bring a bite to eat to refresh you. Stay a while before you continue your journey. They responded: Very well, do as you have said. Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah and said: Quick! Make ready three measures of fine meal; knead it and make cakes. Then Abraham ran to the herd. He selected a fat calf and told a servant to butcher it and prepare it. He took butter and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them. He stood by them under the tree as they ate. Then they said to him: Where is Sarah your wife? He responded: Here, in the tent. He said: Next year I will give you and Sarah a son. (Sarah was listening in the tent door behind him.) Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age. Sarah had passed the age of childbearing. Therefore Sarah laughed within herself. She said to herself: After I have grown old, shall I have a baby? My lord is old also. Jehovah said to Abraham: Why did Sarah laugh, saying, 'Shall I surely bear a child, since I am old?' Is anything too hard for Jehovah? At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life. Sarah shall have a son! Sarah denied saying: I did not laugh! She was afraid. He said: But you did laugh!

Jehovah was gracious to Sarah, as he had said. Jehovah did for Sarah what he had promised. Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age. It was at the very time God had promised him. Abraham gave the name Isaac (he laughs) to the son Sarah bore him. read more.
When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him as God had commanded him. Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. Sarah said: God brought me laughter. Everyone who hears about this will laugh on account of me. She added: Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age. The child grew and was weaned. Abraham held a big feast on the day Isaac was weaned.

The sons of Abraham: Isaac and Ishmael.

Brothers, we are children who belong to the promise, the same as Isaac was.



It is written, that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman, and one by the freewoman. How is it that the son by the slave woman is born after the flesh; but the son by the freewoman is born through promise? This contains an allegory (symbolic drama). These women symbolize two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children to bondage, which is Hagar. read more.
Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia. She corresponds to the Jerusalem that now is. She is in bondage with her children. The Jerusalem above is free. She is our mother. It is written, Rejoice, barren woman who does not give birth. Break forth and cry, you who do not labor; for there are more children of the desolate than of the one who has the husband. Brothers, we are children who belong to the promise, the same as Isaac was. Just like then, the son who was conceived in a natural way according to the flesh persecuted the son conceived in a spiritual way. That is exactly what is happening now! What do the scriptures say? Throw out the slave woman and her son. For the son of the slave woman must not share the inheritance with the son of the free woman. (Genesis 21:10) Brothers, we are not children of a slave woman but of the free woman.



Brothers, we are children who belong to the promise, the same as Isaac was.



Brothers, we are children who belong to the promise, the same as Isaac was.