Today I read up on the Abrahamic covenant in Genesis 16-18, and there are several things of note here.
The first is the merging of the Hametic (Hagar of Egypt) and the Semitic (Abraham) lines. Sarah, Abraham’s wife, had the idea of allowing her husband to “marry” her handmaid. This unholy merger produced Ishmael, who Muhammad proudly proclaimed as the progenitor of the Arabs. Notice the description of Ishmael’s offspring, “he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.”
Does that sound like the historical Muslim? Muslims have been constantly warring with everyone, are brutal to their enemies, and have a global presence. I think it is safe to say that the Bible predicted the Arab Spring 4000 years before it occurred. It predicted the behavior of Islamists 2500 years before Muhammad received his “vision” and penned the Quran.
In Genesis 17:20, God makes this promise for Ishmael, “I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation.”
Not everyone is aware, but all Muslims believe in the Mahdi (Sunnis disagree that he is the 12th Imam), though the Shiites (Iran, Iraq, Lebanon) believe that the 12th Imam (twelve princes, right? A counterfeit to the 12 tribes of Israel) is the Mahdi and will ascend out of a deep well (like the bottomless pit in Revelation 9) and bring peace to a warring world (like Antichrist in Revelation 13), ruling for 7 years (the tribulation) before the “Day of Judgment” (Second Advent).
This Islamic revelation of the Mahdi is one of the reasons why Shiite nations are constantly waging war. They believe the chaos will trigger the return of the 12th Imam and bring about world peace. Christians, beware! The Mahdi is the Antichrist, and his appearance is being actively sought out!
My second observation is the first mention (remember the “law of first mention”) of “the angel of the Lord.” While the Jewish faith holds that Jesus Christ was not the Messiah, the angel of the Lord, given the law of first mention, must be Christ in the Old Testament. This is further evidenced in Zechariah 12:8, a prophetic verse that says “the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the LORD before them.” You see? “as God, as the angel of the LORD.” The angel of the Lord is God, the Lord Jesus Christ. The first mention in the New Testament is post-resurrection in Acts 12:23, and is found again in Acts 27:23 where Paul says he serves the “angel of the Lord.” This is, once again, Christ.
The next observation is the real estate deal known as the “Abrahamic covenant” where God promises that the land of Canaan would belong to the seed of Abraham forever. This area has been also known as “the Levant,” which is why ISIS or ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) continually targets the region including Israel for their caliphate (Islamic State).
Canaan was taken by the Israelites around 1400 BC, and, although the Israelites were occasionally removed from their homeland temporarily, regained legal possession of it in 1948 AD. The children of Israel remain nestled in Canaan today. God has held up His end of the covenant for almost 3500 years with no sign of it breaking anytime soon.
As Israel is the most hated and constantly targeted nation on the planet and is literally surrounded by genocidal enemies, is there any rational explanation for their persistent existence? No. It must be divine protection.
The final thing that jumped out at me is the appearance of three angels in Genesis 18. They looked like men (verse 2) and ate food like any normal man (verse 8). Sure, the word “angel” does not appear here, but two of these men are described as angels in chapter 19, and Abraham refers to the third as “the Lord” (capital L, denoting deity) in verse 3 of chapter 18. They once again ate a meal with Lot, and the wicked degenerates of Sodom wanted to rape them.
These passages lend credence to the sons of God in Genesis 6 being angels, not the “sons of Seth” or human kings as some would have you believe. We have evidence of angels in human form that can engage in fleshly, human behaviors. Hebrews 13:2 says “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.”
You never know when an angel (possibly even fallen ones) is in your midst, so be careful how you treat strangers! That homeless man on the corner may be one of God’s angels, so may the woman you flicked off in rush hour traffic. Your best bet is to follow the golden rule found in Matthew 7:12, “whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.”
Treat other as you would treat yourself, and that will ensure that you are treating God’s angels with respect!
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