John 4:12
Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock."
Today's children want anything but follow in the footsteps of their fathers. They want to find their own paths, dig their own wells, and start all over again for themselves. Life has lost its generational continuity and through generational fragmentation people have lost lose their sense of purpose and identity.
We must take example from Isaac. As a son, he wanted to emulate his father. He wanted to represent Abraham, his dreams and his visions. Isaac was ready to accomplish the destiny his father had so dearly cherished and held onto.
When Isaac found himself in a dispute with his Philistine host over water rights, he could have said, "I don't need my father's wells, I am going to dig my own!" Instead of that, he took upon himself to revive the wells of Abraham. He unplugged them and renamed them the same as Abraham once named them (Genesis 27).
This course of events in the patriarchs' lives lend us a very beautiful midrash. From his miraculous birth, to his carrying his own wood in order to be offered on Mt Moriah, Isaac is a foreshadow of our Messiah, Yeshua. The vast majority of the people who claim to be disciples of Yeshua say that He started a new religion; that He rendered Judaism obsolete and created Christianity. Nothing could be further from the truth. If anything, Yeshua taught the very heart of Judaism: the faith of Abraham.
As Isaac of old revived and drank from his father's wells, Yeshua also brought us to the waters of the wells of Abraham. He taught us to live the life of Abraham, to emulate the faith of Abraham. Even His sermon on drinking of the 'water of life' was given at the sight of one of the wells of Jacob (John 4).
As we learn to define our walk, as we learn to articulate our beliefs, may we be sure that the waters we drink come from the wells of Abraham. There is no need to re-invent the wheel,and dig new wells, find new doctrines and understandings of the old texts. All we need to do is like Isaac, revive the wells of Abraham which have been plugged with the sand of centuries of the doctrines of men who think they knew better than our patriarchs.
Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock."
Today's children want anything but follow in the footsteps of their fathers. They want to find their own paths, dig their own wells, and start all over again for themselves. Life has lost its generational continuity and through generational fragmentation people have lost lose their sense of purpose and identity.
We must take example from Isaac. As a son, he wanted to emulate his father. He wanted to represent Abraham, his dreams and his visions. Isaac was ready to accomplish the destiny his father had so dearly cherished and held onto.
When Isaac found himself in a dispute with his Philistine host over water rights, he could have said, "I don't need my father's wells, I am going to dig my own!" Instead of that, he took upon himself to revive the wells of Abraham. He unplugged them and renamed them the same as Abraham once named them (Genesis 27).
This course of events in the patriarchs' lives lend us a very beautiful midrash. From his miraculous birth, to his carrying his own wood in order to be offered on Mt Moriah, Isaac is a foreshadow of our Messiah, Yeshua. The vast majority of the people who claim to be disciples of Yeshua say that He started a new religion; that He rendered Judaism obsolete and created Christianity. Nothing could be further from the truth. If anything, Yeshua taught the very heart of Judaism: the faith of Abraham.
As Isaac of old revived and drank from his father's wells, Yeshua also brought us to the waters of the wells of Abraham. He taught us to live the life of Abraham, to emulate the faith of Abraham. Even His sermon on drinking of the 'water of life' was given at the sight of one of the wells of Jacob (John 4).
As we learn to define our walk, as we learn to articulate our beliefs, may we be sure that the waters we drink come from the wells of Abraham. There is no need to re-invent the wheel,and dig new wells, find new doctrines and understandings of the old texts. All we need to do is like Isaac, revive the wells of Abraham which have been plugged with the sand of centuries of the doctrines of men who think they knew better than our patriarchs.
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