Bible In One Year Day 8 (Genesis 16 -17, Job 5-6, Proverbs 1: 20--33)

 You may subscribe yourself at the Ascension site here and receive notifications in your email, or just follow along on my blog. Bible in One Year Readings Index 

Hagar Weeping (Gerbrand van den Eeckhout) 

Day 8 The Surrender of Abraham 

Job Rebuked by His Friends (William Blake) 

A Commentary
God's Oath: Kingship and a NameThe Great Adventure: Session 4 Patriarchs Part 1 
Understanding the Scriptures - The Didache Series (Chapter 5)

By this time, Sarai starts to think that God might not have meant that Abram's heir should come through her. One of the customs of the time that had spread through the corruption of polygamy was that a woman could give her servant to her husband, then claim the child as hers.  Sarai had an Egyptian maid named Hagar and she gave her to Abram.  Abram did as Sarai had asked and Hagar conceived and gave birth to a son, Ishmael.  But this is not the son that God had in mind.  

When Abram was 99 years old, God appeared to him yet again and made a second promise, this time of kingship and a name.  

"I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless.  I will make my covenant between me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly...Behold my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations.  No longer shall you be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.  I will make you exceedingly fruitful and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come forth from you."  (Gen: 17:1 - 6)  This promise will be fulfilled in the covenant with David.  

Once again there would be an external sign of this covenant with God.  "This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your descendants after you.  Every male among you shall be circumcised.  You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you." (Gen 17: 9-11) Circumcision, a permanent marking of the flesh would be the sign of the covenant between God and his people.  

At this time God also changed Sarai's name to Sara and said, "I will bless her, and of her I will give thee a son...and thou shall call his name Isaac and I will establish my covenant with him..." Gen 17:16 - 19

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A Daily Defense
DAY 8 Christianity and the Existence of Jesus 

CHALLENGE “What evidence do we have that Jesus even existed?” 

DEFENSE Apart from the references to Jesus in early Christian and non-Christian literature, the appearance and rapid spread of Christianity provide powerful evidence for the existence of Jesus. 
Josephus indicates Jesus was a Jew in first-century Palestine (thus Jesus’ “brother” was executed in
A.D. 62; Antiquities of the Jews 20:9:1). 

Tacitus says Jesus was “executed during the rule of Tiberius by the procurator Pontius Pilate” (Annals 15:44). Pilate’s tenure was A.D. 26 to 36. Writing around A.D. 110, Pliny the Younger notes he interviewed people in his province of Bithynia (in modern Turkey) who had been Christians twenty years earlier (c. 90). The movement had made such an impact on his territory that the sellers of animals for pagan sacrifices had suffered an economic downturn and pagan temples were almost deserted (Letters 96). 

Tacitus and Suetonius speak of Christians in Rome during the reign of Nero (A.D. 54–68; Annals
15:44; Lives of the Caesars, “Nero” 16), and Suetonius appears to refer to them being there under
Claudius (A.D. 41–54; Lives of the Caesars, “Claudius” 25). 

Other first- and second-century sources show that the movement was in Syrian Antioch, Ephesus,
Corinth, Thessalonica, Philippi, and many other locations.  All sources agree that Christianity was a new movement, beginning in the first half of the first century. Christian sources even admit it did not begin until the fifteenth year of Tiberius (cf. Luke 3:1), or A.D. 29. 

This means that Christianity spread extremely quickly, and it did so in an age without telecommunications, without the printing press, and when travel was difficult and dangerous. The only way for a movement to spread that quickly, under those conditions, is if it was both organized and driven by a powerful missionary impulse. 

Early Christian writings reveal quite a bit about how the movement was organized. Its initial leaders
were known as “apostles,” which in Greek means “sent ones.” So who did the sending? The sources
we have are unanimous: Jesus of Nazareth. The apostles were sent by him. 

In view of the rapid spread of Christianity, there is no reason to doubt this. Movements have
founders, and they preserve the memory of their founder. The appearance and growth of Christianity 

thus point to the existence of Jesus. 

Jimmy Akin, A Daily Defense: 365 Days (Plus One) to Becoming a Better Apologist