Today, we will be continuing our Bible Study with a look at Abraham’s life. Before we do that though, I want to review the study of Noah that we’ve been doing. According to our study, why was Noah considered a righteous man? Because he had faith. Why did God want to preserve Noah as a remnant of mankind? In order to preserve the lineage of Jesus. What is obedience to God’s calling a sign of? Humility before God. What was Noah’s first act when he got off the ark? To build an altar and honor and thank God for his deliverance. Last question, what was God’s covenant with Noah? That He would never destroy all living things off the face of the earth again.
There is so much about Abraham that we will just focus on
some key points. So, let’s start with
the verses about Abraham’s mention in the “Timeline of History.”
Genesis 11:27-30 NKJV
This is the genealogy of Terah: Terah begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Haran begot Lot. And Haran died before his father Terah in his native land, in Ur of the Chaldeans. Then Abram and Nahor took wives: the name of Abram's wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor's wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran the father of Milcah and the father of Iscah. But Sarai was barren; she had no child.
Ur of the Chaldeans
Abraham was born in the Ur of the Chaldeans. This is the place where the ziggurat of Ur is
located. A ziggurat is a “high place”
where the worship of pagan gods takes place.
Ur was a major center of worship to the pagan mood god Nanna.
This is the environment where Abraham (who was known as
Abram, at this time) was raised. In
fact, his father Terah was involved in pagan worship. He didn’t serve the God of the Bible:
Joshua 24:2 NKJV
And Joshua said to all the people, "Thus says the LORD God of Israel: 'Your fathers, including Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, dwelt on the other side of the River in old times; and they served other gods.
The remarkable thing, in my opinion is that when God spoke
to Abram that Abram recognized that it was God.
God called him out of that country and out of his father’s house and
Abram knew it was God and obeyed.
Now the LORD had said to Abram: "Get out of your country, From your family And from your father's house, To a land that I will show you.
Genesis 12:4 NKJV
So Abram departed as the LORD had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.
So, we determined that Abram lived in a country that was a
major place of worship of other gods, and that he lived in a home where those
other gods were worshipped. God called
him out of that place and away from his family.
God took him out of that worship of other gods.
God basically does that with all of us. Prior to salvation many of us were caught up
in the traditional Taiwanese religions, or were atheists. God called us out of that worship (Atheism is
a worship of people, it is often called Humanism) and into His will. God has
built into us a desire to seek Him. We
are all looking for God, even though we may not realize it.
Act 17:26-27 NKJV
And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us;
This scripture talks about periods and boundaries in which
men and nations flourish, so that they might recognize and respond to God’s
call on them, so that we would reach out to find Him, even though He’s not far
from us.
This scripture also points to a personal seeking of God,
“…though He is not far from each of us…”
Abram was no different from all of us.
He was seeking God and recognized His voice as God called to him.
God’s Calling
This is the calling of God on Abram’s life. There are three parts to this calling, obedience and faith, blessings, and covenant that we
want to look at:
Obedience and Faith
Genesis 12:1 NKJV
Now the LORD had said to Abram: "Get out of your country, From your family And your father's house, To a land that I will show you.
First, God’s call was a test of Abram’s faith and
obedience. In the last few last week when talking about Noah, we emphasized Noah’s obedience and faith
and how God accounted it to him as righteousness. “Get up out of your nation and from your
father’s house.” This is the first part
of the test. Will Abram be obedient in
God’s calling. How hard is it to leave
your family and go to another place knowing that you will never see them
again? It was difficult for me to leave
the US and come here, when Emily and her family were remaining in the
states. I can go back and see her
whenever I want, and still it was difficult to leave. It must be more difficult to leave knowing
that you’ll never see your family again.
This is what Abram’s calling meant.
This is the obedience that God was looking for from Abram.
What do you think it took for Abram to actually
do that? He had to believe that God was
THE God. He had to have rock solid
faith. God was saying, “follow Me to a
place that I will show you.” Abram had
the faith to follow God, even though he had no idea where God was leading
him.
Hebrews 11:8 NKJV
By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.
Blessings
Genesis 12:2-3 NKJV
I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."
The second aspect of God’s calling on Abram is the blessings God gave him. God
promises that He will make Abram (soon to be Abraham) the father of many
nations. There are a few things here
that are important. The first is that
when this promise is made Abram is 75 years old:
Genesis 12:4 NKJV
So Abram departed as the LORD had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.
It is also important to remember that Sarai, his wife, was
barren. That is, she is unable to give
birth.
Genesis 11:29-30 NKJV
Then Abram and Nahor took wives: the name of Abram's wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor's wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran the father of Milcah and the father of Iscah. But Sarai was barren; she had no child.
God is promising Abram that he will father a great
nation. God also tells him that his
descendants will number as the stars in the sky. So, here is Abram, 75 years old with a barren
wife and God is promising him that he will have many children.
Genesis 13:16 NKJV
And I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth; so that if a man could number the dust of the earth, then your descendants also could be numbered.
God promised him descendants, and that He would make Abram a
great nation. This took place in about
2000 BC. About 4,000 years ago and we
still know Abraham. We still study this
story. God did indeed make his name
great.
Covenant
The third part of this is that this is the beginning of the
Covenant that God made with him. God
promised that he would have descendants.
God promised that He would be the father of many nations. God promised that, “in you all the families
of the earth shall be blessed.”
This is a foreshadowing of Jesus. Jesus is the blessing, “of
all the families of the earth.” This is
another instance when the faith of an Old Testament person extended to
Jesus. He is seeing this promise afar
off:
Hebrews 11:13 NKJV
These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
Finally, the covenant between God and Abram included a land
for the people of God, Abraham’s descendants.
Follow me to a land that I will show you. This is the place that is promised to Israel.
Genesis 12:6-7 NKJV
Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, as far as the terebinth tree of Moreh. And the Canaanites were then in the land. Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, "To your descendants I will give this land." And there he built an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him.
Abram, built an altar again to honor and thank God for this
great blessing. Look at this scripture:
James 2:23 NKJV
And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS ACCOUNTED TO HIM FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS." And he was called the friend of God.
I want to stop here for today but I want to reiterate God’s
covenant with Abram. We’ll go into more
detail on some things next week.
Summary of Abraham’s Covenant with God:
God's covenant with Abraham is one of the most significant agreements
in the Bible, marking the beginning of God's relationship with the Israelite
nation and His promises to humanity. It is outlined in various passages,
including Genesis 12, 15, and 17. Here's a summary of its key aspects:
- Promise
of Land: God promised Abraham and his descendants the land of Canaan
as their inheritance. This is referred to as the "Promised
Land."
- Promise
of Descendants: Despite Abraham and Sarah's initial inability to have
children, God promised that Abraham would have numerous descendants who
would form a great nation.
- Blessing
to All Nations: Through Abraham's offspring, God promised blessings to
all the families of the earth, foreshadowing the role of Jesus Christ as
part of Abraham's lineage.
The covenant emphasizes faith, obedience, and God's
unwavering commitment to fulfill His promises.
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