See Jesus - Believe Jesus

Abraham gave everything he owned to his son Isaac. But before he died, he gave gifts to the sons of his concubines and sent them off to a land in the east, away from Isaac. [Genesis 25.5-6]

While we know that Abraham had multiple sons because the Bible documents it, God, interestingly enough, referred to Isaac as Abraham's one and only son.

“Take your son, your only son—yes, Isaac, whom you love so much—and go to the land of Moriah. Go and sacrifice him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you.” [Genesis 22.2]

In today's One Year Chronological Bible reading, we find not only the genealogy of Abraham's son Ishmael through Hagar, but also the genealogy of Abraham's sons through Keturah, a concubine Abraham at some point married. But we see in today's reading that Abraham only gave gifts to all the other sons and gave everything he owned to Isaac.

I am certain the spiritual applications that might be seen in this are many. What seems to stand out however is that even though life might yield all manner of "offspring" there is only one "son." If we look for Jesus in the Old Testament scriptures (as He instructed us to do, John 5.39), we can better understand why Jesus, God's one and only Son, explained the following:

Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. [John 14.6]

It is all too easy for us to get hung up on ancient customs that we really understand nothing about - in this case, polygamy. But what is important for us to see, even in that which we do not understand, is the Story of Jesus, the one and only Way - God's one and only Son.

In thinking the previous paragraph through, we must understand that we are sons and daughters of God through faith in Jesus Christ. I am a son of God, but I am not The Son of God. 

As then I consider what to say from this point forward, I realize how little I understand.  I would love to present brilliant analogies of "what it all means," but I find myself void of words except to simply say, Jesus is the one and only Son of God, and then the words God spoke to the disciples on the Mount of Transfiguration come to mind:

“This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy. Listen to him.” [Matthew 17.5b]

God has given everything to Jesus. 

The Father loves his Son and has put everything into his hands. [John 3.35]

The significance of "staying close to Jesus" comes into greater focus as we consider Him as God's one and only Son.

So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son. [John 1.14]

“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. [John 3.16]

God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. [1 John 4.9] 

We can believe a lot of things about the Bible, but if we fail to see and believe in Jesus, God's one and only Son, we have missed the point altogether. 

See Jesus! Believe in Jesus!

Father, thank You for Jesus. May I not lose sight of Him as I read the Old Testament. Open my eyes to see Jesus in every page - in every story of the Old Testament. May I understand the significance of Jesus as Your one and only Son and may I be found believing! So be it.