Lesson 4, April 17-23
Sabbath Afternoon
Read for This Week’s Study: Exodus 3:14; Genesis 17:1-6; Genesis 41:45; Daniel 1:7; Genesis 15:7-18; Genesis 17:1-14; Revelation 14:6-7.
Memory Text: “And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.” Genesis 17:7
How many remember distinctly in our childhood a sickness or a touch of pneumonia that made us very sick, with the potential for something even worse? In the long feverish night, we would awaken from a half sleep to see our mother or father sitting in a chair beside our bed in the soft glow of the night-light.
Just so, in a figurative, human sense, God sat by the bedside of a sin-sick world as moral darkness began to deepen in the centuries after the Flood. For this reason, He called out Abram and planned to establish through His faithful servant a people to whom He could entrust a knowledge of Himself and give salvation.
Therefore, God entered into a covenant with Abram and his posterity that emphasized in more detail the divine plan to save humankind from the results of sin. The Lord was not going to leave His world unattended, not with it in such dire need. This week we will look at the unfolding of more covenant promises.
The Week at a Glance: What is the name of God? What does it mean? What was the significance of the names God used to identify Himself to Abram? What names did He use to identify Himself? Why did God change Abram’s name to Abraham? Why are names important? What conditions, or obligations, were attached to the covenant?
