Solomon Aggrey - Following His Glory

However, Sarai gave her Egyptian maid to Abram, and they had a son and named him Ishmael. The Egyptians were descendants of Mizraim, the son of Ham who was cursed by Noah. Ishmael could not be part of the seed-line of the promise, who would bruise the head of the serpent. He was born out of the flesh and out of slavery (Galatians 4.21-27) and therefore could not be the lineage of the promise of Shem or the promise of the son of God. ‘All the families of the earth will be blessed’ and not be cursed. Ishmael was a mix-seed, and God wanted a pure seed.

God cut a covenant with Abram and said, ‘Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years and also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterwards they shall come out with great possessions.’ (Genesis 15.13-15). Although God had previously spoken to Abram in visions, in Genesis 17, the Bible writes, ‘When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, ‘I am Almighty God (El Shaddai); walk before Me and be blameless.’’ (Genesis 17.1).

Abram was then very old, incapable of having children. Jehovah appeared to him previously, but this time God introduced Himself by a different name. He introduced Himself as El Shaddai, the All Sufficient God. ‘Walk before Me and be blameless.’ The Hebrew word ‘before’ is paniym. Paniym means ‘face’ or ‘presence.’ So, the passage can be read as ‘Walk or live in my face or in my presence and be blameless.’ The word blameless is the same Hebrew word, tamiym, translated as perfect in connection with Noah; meaning complete, entire, sound, and whole. ‘Noah was a just man, perfect [tamiym] in his generation.’ Noah did not have any corruption in his DNA or in his character as the people of his generation. After Noah, the world returned again to the heart of wickedness, evil and violence.

God needed another tamiym like Noah to birth a new seed-line. Abraham and his seed had to maintain a pure genetic code; unmixed with the corruption of the world. How was God going to cleanse the world from corruption if he was not going to destroy the world by the flood?

God had already prepared an answer for that contingency. ‘Then Melchizedek, king of Salem brought bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High.’ (Genesis 14.18). Melchizedek was, according to Hebrews chapter seven, ‘without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but, made like the Son of God, remains a priest continually.’ (Hebrews 7.3).

‘Without father and mother’ means Melchizedek had no Adamic issues to deal with. In other words, he did not have corrupt DNA. Melchizedek was perfect (tamiym), like Noah. He was made like the Son of God, but He was not the Son of God. When Abram received the bread and the wine from Melchizedek, he gave him his tithe. Paul writes, ‘Here mortal men receive tithes, but there he receives them, of whom it is witnessed that he lives. Even Levi, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham, so to speak, for he was still in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him.’ (Heb 7.8-10).

The seed of Abraham was in his loins when he paid tithe to Melchizedek. So, the seed also paid tithe to Melchizedek and therefore shared and partook of the bread and wine from Melchizedek. The true meaning of the bread and wine which Melchizedek gave to Abraham was not revealed until Jesus Christ came. Just before He died, Jesus Christ took bread and broke it and said, ‘Take, eat, this is my body.’ He took the cup containing the wine and said, ‘Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant which is shed for the remission of sins.’ (Matthew 26.26-28).

Jesus continued, ‘I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh which I shall give for the life of the world … Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is food indeed and My blood is drink indeed.’ (John 6.51-56).

The Bible says, ‘Many of His disciples, when they heard this said, ‘This is a hard saying, who can understand it?’ Who could eat the flesh and drink the blood of humans except idol worshippers? However, Jesus Christ was referring to His perfect DNA which He carried in His body and blood. The Word was implanted into the womb of the mother of Jesus, Mary, when the Holy Spirit overshadowed her. Jesus also did not have an earthly father or seed but God’s seed. He was and is without sin and had a perfect DNA, like the first Adam before his fall (Hebrews 4.15). Abraham and his seed shall partake of the perfect image and likeness of God through Jesus Christ. That was the power in the bread and the wine which Melchizedek gave to Abraham. The understanding of which was far beyond Abram’s time and stretched into our time. ‘Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.’ (John 8.56, Rom 8.29).

Through Abraham a pure DNA code was maintained and transferred to his seed. ‘Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made.’ He does not say, ‘And to Seeds,’ as of many, but as of one, ‘And to your Seed,’ who is Christ (Galatians 3.16). Jesus Christ on the earth inherited the promise of Abraham, and through Him all the families of the earth will be saved.

We are the seed of Abraham through Christ and therefore we must also maintain a pure DNA, walk before God and be blameless to inherit the promise; ‘And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.’ (Galatians 3.29). Abraham ‘waited for the city which has foundation, whose builder and maker is God.’ That city was heaven. Those who would inherit heaven must walk blameless before God, perfect and pure without any DNA corruption. This is an eternal message to the church of today.

Enoch and Noah walked with Elohim, but Abraham walked before El Shaddai. Just as Noah and his seed were saved from the flood judgement, so Abraham and his seed will be saved from future judgements if they walked in God’s face (tamiym) blameless. ‘Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will.’ (Ephesians 1.4-5).

God told Abram, ‘And I will make My covenant between Me and you and will multiply you exceedingly … My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations … As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. And I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be from her.’ (Genesis 17.2-16). The Lord, the I AM, breathed Himself into their names and changed their names; from Abram to Abraham and from Sarai to Sarah. Abraham means ‘father of many nations’ and Sarah means ‘mother of nations.’ The change of names was very important because it gave them new identities; earthly people with changed DNA.

God waited for the time both Abraham and Sarah were incapable of having children because the seed was to be a promised seed, of faith, supernatural and not of the natural. Both Abraham and Sarah thought that Ishmael was going to fulfil the promise. But God said, ‘No, Sarah your wife shall bear a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him.’ (Genesis 17.19). Isaac must be the son of Abraham and not the son of Abram.