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Studies in Genesis, Introduction to Abraham, Part II, Lesson XXVII, Genesis 12
We left our last lesson in recalling the men of Babel who chose to disregard the command of God to disperse and populate the Earth.
For they had chosen to band together, without dependence upon God, and instead depending upon each other to strive and labor together in building a great city and of course a monument to themselves that they might glory in their labors.
Monuments to men do indeed follow such a course for men worship men!
God’s word is filled with promises of blessings but the men of Babel pursued blessings in the product of their own labors, rather than in the promises of God.
God will always have his way so He quickly confounded the language, and dispersion and separation took place as God had so ordained.
So in generations to come God raised up his servant named Abram and gave him a command and what took place in his life was in effect a reversal of what the men of Babel attempted.
We read of this in Genesis 12:1-3, Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: 2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: 3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
Now I don’t know Abram’s circumstances in Ur of the Chaldees but most likely Ur was a place of stability, of security and family.
But God called him to leave that city and exchange that life of works to a life of faith, walking day by day at the behest of God.
God promised to make of him a great nation, and blessings, and a great name, blessing those who bless him, and cursing those who curse him and promising that through him all families of the earth will be blessed.
This, the men of Babel sought by their own labors, a life of works but God blesses lives of faith so their dreams were scattered with them as they fled Babel and filled the earth as God commanded.
Abram had a choice, to obey God or go his own way as did the men of Babel.
That choice is given to all of us for God has provided His word to all with specific calls to join His family and do what His family is called to do.
We call God’s command to Abram a covenant but this word covenant does not appear with regard to Abraham until chapter 15 where specific details of the covenant are spelled out.
But here in chapter 12 the general features of the covenant are given.
Three major promises are contained in this covenant, a land, a seed, and a blessing.
Abram set out to a land called Canaan but did not know where he would be in that land until at Shechem, where God promised to give “this land” to Abram.
It would not be until chapter 15 that a full description of the land was given.
Genesis 15:8, In the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:
So by this description we see a large land, a land much greater than Israel has ever been but a land which will be realized when Christ sits on the throne during his millennial reign on Earth.
It will include the present lands surrounding Israel and how far it goes into Saudi Arabia is not known but it could include all of that land.
Abram was promised this land but it never belonged to him in his lifetime and God told this to him clearly in:
Genesis 15:13-15, And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; 14 And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance. 15 And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age.
What a lesson this is for us for faith may carry you beyond the grave as it did Abraham for God will indeed give this land to his seed.
Think about the excitement of Abraham’s seed coming out of a land of affliction finally into the land promised to their father Abraham and knowing firmly that God keeps His promises.
God’s second promise to Abram was that he was to be the father of a great nation.
The men of Babel longed for this but their longing required the labor and toil of their hands.
God’s promise of a great nation was given to a man who believed the principle of Psalm 127:1 which says: Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it.
God blesses Abram though his fatherhood, through his children through his descendants, but namely his ultimate descendant, Abraham’s son yes, but also God’s only begotten son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
No doubt Abram heard this promise and wondered for his wife Sarai was barren, was up in years and past the season of birthing.
Again God placing in front of Abram hindrances to belief but by faith hindrances to be overcome.
God says the just shall live by faith and he puts in place things that make this happen.
The word “shall” means it will happen.
So if you are saved God moves you into this realm of faith and things will come about where faith is required of you.
This is what takes place on the narrow way upon which Christ has placed you where you walk by faith and not by sight.
God has so ordained this so be careful in thinking that all your plans and dreams will come out your way for you are of God and God has plans for you which always trump your plans.
So God promises Abram a land, a great nation and thirdly in verse 2 and 3 blessings, for God says:
…….I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: 3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
God herein promises blessings upon Abram and blessings upon his descendants.
He also promises curses upon Abram’s enemies, them that curse Abram and by inference his descendants.
So take note here of the importance in being in the right camp relative to Abraham, for there are two camps, one blessed, one cursed.
When God sets up camps, what takes place in those camps is assured.
Be a blessing to those of Abraham God warns!
For every persecution that takes place or will take place against those of the family of Abraham will be avenged for every curse against them will be met by the curse of God for He has promised.
So Abram was set apart to become a blessing to men of every nation.
We pointed this out in previous lessons by showing the preponderance of the important contributions to the world by Abram’s descendants.
Remember the contribution to the Pharaoh by Joseph, the son of Jacob who because of his relation to the God of Abraham provided for Egypt for the seven years of famine.
And also remember those of Abram’s descendants who through the direction of God’s Spirit were yielded to Him in order to write the scriptures, our Holy Bible.
But I believe the greatest promise given to Abram is that all families of the earth will be blessed, a promise which can only point to a Messiah, a worldwide deliverer from the curse of sin.
Jesus Christ told us of Abraham’s response to this promise as recorded in John 8:56, Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day; and he saw it, and was glad.
Jesus Christ came to seek and to save the lost, both of Abraham’s descendants and all the rest for as God promised Abraham of thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
So Abraham is not only the father of the Jews of faith but he is the father of all those of faith.
For faith is what unites Abraham’s children.
Our divisions of faith as exemplified in the many denominations and various groups past and present mean nothing to Abraham for only faith in the God of Abraham brings us into his family.
Read Galatians 3:7-9, Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.
So Abram’s father Terah had died, and the time to leave his father’s house had come.
He had left Ur of the Chaldees many years ago to journey to Canaan but not in complete obedience to the word of the Lord for he had not left his father’s house.
But the command was still there, the promises were still promised and therefore we read of Abram’s move from the comforts of Haran to the unknown of Canaan, which is a normal event on the road of faith.
Genesis 12:4-9, So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran. 5 And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came. 6 And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land. 7 And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto him. 8 And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east: and there he builded an altar unto the Lord, and called upon the name of the Lord.
In the epistle of James, he writes of Elias (Elijah) as a man subject to like passions as we are.
This is such a good reminder that the giants of the faith we find in the scriptures were not men or women without flaws, without sins, and without failures.
And so to we find this relationship in Abram for he too, as we all have, had feet of clay.
As we said last week Abram’s walk of faith was in bits and spurts.
Moses the writer of Genesis leaves nothing out in matters of his failure for his account of Abram’s initial steps toward and in Canaan left much to be desired as to a solid walk of faith.
God called him in Ur of the Chaldees, but Abram did not leave his father’s house or his kindred.
Did Abram leave Ur with a purpose to obey God or were there other reasons having to do with Tereh desiring to move toward Canaan?
And remember when Tereh stopped in Haran Abram did not leave there until his father died.
Perhaps God took Tereh in death in order to remove any hindrances that kept Abram from walking by faith.
The just shall live by faith and God will see to it.
So I think we can conclude that Abram obeyed God in faith but in baby steps of faith.
And this is the example we all seem to follow but baby steps are to lead to toddler steps, and then to children’s steps, to young man steps and then to adult mature steps.
As God so arranges this life to grow from being a baby to an adult God also arranges this in your growing in faith.
No one should want to continually only have the beginnings of faith.
Hebrews 11 speaks of Abraham’s faith when all was said and done but Genesis speaks of Abraham’s faith as it was growing.
Abraham was a man of great faith but great faith after years and years of trials and testings by God.
Take this as the example as to how God raises His children and how you ought to raise your children.
We are all to be tested that our faith may grow.
For in our best moments our faith may be strong and vital, but in the next we forget God and cry like a baby, weak and in great need.
So what can we learn from our father, Abraham as we too walk this road of faith?
For one thing faith is begun by the initiative of God.
It was God alone who sought out Abram and saved him.
His home was pagan.
There is nothing given as to any spiritual qualities which drew God to him.
But it was God alone in the act of grace who elected Abram to be our father.
And we also learn that God is sovereign in the process of sanctification.
Having called Abram, it was God who brought him to the point of leaving home and kindred and eventually entering the Promised Land.
There to engage in a pilgrimage, which brought him to know that his true promised land was in the city whose builder and maker was God.
Hebrews 114:9,10, By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: 10 For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
Abraham knew that his permanent home was not to be found in this world but in the one that is to come, the one that Jesus Christ said he went to prepare for us a place.
Abraham lived in tents symbolizing to us his roots were not deep in this world for his heart was elsewhere and that elsewhere was near to the heart of God. |