The events in the life of Abraham are found in Genesis, Chapters 12
through 24. Abraham was the ninth generation from Shem, Noah's son. If you
remember, it was Shem who had been promised that the Messiah, or Christ, would
come from his seed. Abraham's father was an idol-worshipper, as all his kindred
seemed to be. This seems strange, considering the fact that they were all the
seed of Noah, who believed and worshipped the one true God! But it is a known
fact that when men have no personal experience with God, they often resort to
making and worshipping idols. Abraham was the exception. He still believed and
worshipped only the true God!
Abraham was born and raised in the city of Ur, of
the Chaldees. Sometime after Abraham's marriage to Sarah (at this time Abraham
was still called Abram, and Sarah's name was Sarai), Terah, Abraham's father,
moved to Canaan, taking with him Abraham, Sarah, and his grandson, Lot.
THE ABRAHAMIC
COVENANT:
A "covenant" is an agreement between two
or more persons or parties to do or not to do a certain thing. The first
covenant made between God and man was when God promised Noah that He would
never again destroy the whole world by a flood. He gave the rainbow as a sign
of this covenant or agreement.
God's covenant with Abraham was one that would bring
tremendous blessing, not only to him, but to the whole human race. It involved
something that Abraham must do, and then upon his obedience, God would bless
him and his seed:
WHAT ABRAHAM MUST DO
"Get thee out of thy
country, and from thy kindred, and from thy fathar's house, unto a land that I
will shew thee" (Genesis
12:1).
WHAT GOD WOULD DO
"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:
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" (verses
2-3).
This then is the "Abrahamic Covenant."
Verse 3 contains a promise that Jesus Christ (He that would bless the whole
earth) would be born of Abraham's seed. This is the second promise in the Bible
concerning the coming Christ (Jesus). The first one was given to Eve (Genesis
3:15). This was the promise that the seed of the woman would "bruise the
head" of the seed of the serpent.
This was a prophecy of the great victory that Jesus
Christ would win over Satan by His sinless life, and by the offering of Himself
on the cross for the sins of the world.
The fact that Jesus Christ was indeed of the seed of
Abraham, and also the seed of a woman, has been verified by the Scriptures
themselves: (Hebrews 2:16; Galatians 4:4).
ABRAHAM'S GREAT
FAITH:
For Abraham to respond to God's call and fulfill his
part of the covenant required great faith on his part because:
1. God did not tell him where his destination would
be: "...a land that I will shew
thee."
2. Sarah was barren, and they were well past the age
of being able to have children.
Nevertheless, Abraham obeyed the Lord:
"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" (Genesis 12:4). Hundreds of years later, Paul wrote
about Abraham's great example of faith: "By
faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after
receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he
went" (Hebrews 11:8).
ABRAHAM, FATHER OF MANY NATIONS
Abraham is regarded as the first Jew and the father
of the Jewish nation. During the ministry of Jesus Christ, the Jews would often
self-righteously boast that Abraham was their father (John 8:33, 39). The Jews
could rightfully claim Abraham as their father "as pertaining to the flesh" (Romans 4:1). But God's
promise to Abraham was "...in
thee shall all families of the earth be blessed."
The meaning of Abraham's old name (Abram) is
"high father." But the meaning of his new name is "father of
many nations."
Paul explained to us who the real children of
Abraham are: (Romans 9:8;
Galatians 3:7, 3:14, 3:26-29).
A LOVE RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD FOR ALL:
Abraham believed in the one true God. He was not
influenced by his family to believe in and worship their idols. He believed in
Jehovah God, the self-existent One who created all things. This is why God
called him away from his idol-worshipping family. It was part of God's plan to
bring into existence a people who would have a loving relationship with
Himself.
During the Old Testament days, the Jews, being the
direct descendants of Abraham, were considered God's chosen people. All
non-Jews were called "Gentiles," and were all idol-worshippers. These
were considered "heathen," and salvation was not preached to them.
But when God came into the world in the person of Jesus Christ, He came to pay
the price for the salvation of the whole world (John 3:16)!
The true children of Abraham today are they who,
like Abraham, have put their faith in the one true God, and have, by faith,
received the Holy Spirit of promise.
LOT'S WRONG CHOICE
When Abraham left his father's house, his nephew
Lot, and his family and cattle, also went with him. The intermingling of the
cattle caused much disputing between the herdsmen of both Abraham and Lot.
Finally, Abraham encouraged Lot to go his own way, giving him the first choice
where he wanted to settle (Genesis 13:10-13).
Lot, with worldly desires, carefully picked the best
of the land, and at the same time cast his eyes upon the city life. He and his
family soon moved into Sodom, and his daughters eventually married men from
this immoral and wicked city. The sins that made Sodom and its sister city
Gomorrah infamous are the sins of sodomy and homosexuality (Genesis 19:4-5).
Although Lot became a well-known figure in Sodom,
the price he paid for his wrong choice was high. Because of the wickedness of
Sodom and Gomorrah, God decided to destroy them. Abraham made intercessory
prayer for these cities, but God's mind could not be changed. Not even ten
righteous people could be found among all the inhabitants of Sodom and
Gomorrah.
Though God sent special angels to warn Lot and his
family, their heart was so entrenched in the city that it was hard for them to
leave. His sons-in-law refused to leave, making fun of the warning. As Lot and
his family delayed their departure, thanks to the prayers of Abraham, God's
angels literally took them by the hand and dragged them out of the city. They
were all warned not to look back. However, Lot's wife did not take heed to the
warning, and when she looked back at the flaming cities (because God had sent
fire from heaven upon them), she became a pillar of salt. (Genesis, Chapter 18;
19:1-26).
Hundreds of years later, Jesus recalled this
incident to his disciples by saying, "Remember Lot's wife" (Luke
17:32). The message was simple and plain. He was telling them not to look back
to the world of sin that they had left behind!
Abraham was not too concerned with his
"temporary dwelling place." His heart was not in the things of this
world. The city he was looking for was not one that offered him position,
popularity and social life: "...he
looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God"
(Hebrews 11:10).
He knew there was life beyond death, a better land
beyond this one. That was the place he was looking forward to going. He and
Sarah felt like pilgrims and strangers on this earth. They knew that if they kept
their relationship with God right, they would someday dwell eternally in the
presence of God in the place He has prepared for them that love Him (Hebrews
11:13, John 14:1-3, and I Corinthians 2:9.
ABRAHAM'S FAILURES
Although Abraham was a great man, at times he failed
God. Genesis 12:11-20, and Genesis, Chapter 20 relate two incidents when he
lied to the king of the country he had journeyed into to protect his life. He
told these kings that Sarah was his sister, not his wife. He was afraid that
because of Sarah's beauty they would kill him, and then take his wife to be
their wife. However, in each case the king desired Sarah to be his wife anyhow.
God had to intervene, or Abraham would not have been reunited with the woman
who was to bear the child of promise.
Abraham was 75 years old when God promised him a son
by his wife, Sarah. After several years of waiting for this promise to be
fulfilled, Abraham became impatient, and went in unto Sarah's maid, and the
maid conceived. (This was with Sarah's consent and encouragement). Ishmael, the
father of the Arab race, was the result of this union, and there has been a
constant struggle between the Jews and Arabs ever since. God did not accept
Ishmael as the promised son, although Abraham tried to persuade God to do so
(Genesis, Chapter 16).
Thirteen years later (when Abraham was ninety-nine
years old), God again appeared unto Abraham, and assured him that Ishmael was
not the son of promise--that within one year Sarah would give birth to the
promised son. It was at this time also that Abraham and Sarah were given their
new names.
ISAAC, THE SON OF PROMISE
When Abraham was one hundred years old, Abraham's
faith was rewarded, and Isaac was born. After some years, when Isaac was
already a strong lad, God put Abraham's faith and loyalty to a further test: (Genesis
22:2).
Can you imagine how Abraham must have felt? He had
waited 25 years to get the promised son, and now God was telling him to offer
Isaac for a burnt offering. Isaac was now a strong and healthy lad.
Every time he looked at Isaac he could remember the
covenant that he had made with God. He had willingly left his home and country
in obedience to God, and God had rewarded him by giving him a wonderful son.
Now God was commanding him to offer Isaac as a burnt offering.
Notice how quick Abraham was to obey his God:
"And Abraham rose up
early in the morning ... and went unto the place of which God had told
him" (verse 3).
ABRAHAM SHOWS HIS FAITH AGAIN
"And Abraham said
unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go
yonder and worship, and come again to you" (Genesis 22:5).
Do you see that Abraham expected to return to his
men with his son? Abraham did not know that God would spare him from killing
his son. He only knew that when he left the place of worship, Isaac would be
with him--because Isaac was the son of promise.
This is what Paul wrote about it hundreds of years
later: "By faith Abraham, when he
was tried, offered up Isaac; and he that had received the promises offered up
his only begotten son, "Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed
be called: accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead;
from whence also he received him in a figure" (Hebrews 11:17-19).
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